MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - Michigan roads can be difficult and unpleasant to drive, but cruising down Lake Lansing Road will soon be getting a lot smoother.

On April 15th the Ingham County Road Department began construction on Lake Lansing Road from Saginaw Highway to Lac-Du-Mont.

Lake Lansing Road will be closed to through traffic starting in June, with construction set to be completed by Labor Day.

The project, which is federally funded, will consist of widening the road to add a center left turn lane and a bike lane.

"One of the benefits of going to a three lane highway with a center turn lane is it reduces the number of rear end collisions," said Assistant Township Manager/Director of Public Works Derek Perry.

"So actually the safety factor of the project will be a better condition for the community,so traveling safety will definitely improve with this type of condition And then also the inclusion of the bike paths. We'll have a nice dedicated bike path from the East-West corridor along Lake Lansing and think that will be a great improvement for the community too."

In addition, there will be upgrades to storm drains and sidewalk ramps to ensure they are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Perry said all these improvements fit into the greater goals of Meridian Township and the vision for sustainability and complete streets.

"In Meridian Township one of our priorities is complete streets, which encompasses not just vehicular traffic but also pedestrian traffic, bike traffic," he said." It's really taking the big picture look at those basically, I would say, travel corridors through our community."

Perry said retaining the tree population was an important focus of the project.

"Trees play an important part in our community too," he said So whenever there's opportunities for us to save trees or mitigate or come up with solutions so we can keep those trees in the environment we want to look at those and see if we can be successful in that effort."

Residents who have questions or concerns about the Lake Lansing Road project are encouraged to contact the Ingham County Road Department.