MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - Meridian Township is known for many of it's pedestrian trails. And, these trails have some improvements in store.

On June 14th, the Ingham County Board of Commissioners approved providing Meridian Township the funds to repair sections of local trails from the Trail and Park Millage approved by voters in 2014.

Meridian Township was granted $88,000 in funding to rehabilitate 3.08 miles of non-motorized pathways in 2017.

The millage generates approximately $3.4 million in revenue annually. In March, the Ingham County Board of Commissioners passed two resolutions, committing $5.5 million from the first two years of collected millage, to begin making improvements to Ingham County’s trail systems.

A total of $788,863 of funding is approved to repair the asphalt surface of over 13.35 miles of trails within Ingham County located in the City of East Lansing, City of Lansing and Meridian Township communities.

Ingham County Parks and Recreation Director Tim Morgan said that prolonging the life of bridges and roads infrastructure is something we want done on the street we drive on. But we also want it done on the trails we walk on.

"Some will just be crack sealing and sealing of the asphalt," Morgan said. "While, other areas will actually be getting patched or sections replaced. And other areas there will just totally be overlay, like a new road."

Resident Tom Brown is one example of someone who utilizes and will benefit from these repairs.

Brown walks his dog Lucy twice a week along the Nancy Moore Park trail in Meridian Township.

"They need a lot of repairs, yeah there is a lot of broken asphalt," Brown said. "Nicer asphalt trails, well it's easier to walk in."

This time next year residents can expect to see these improvements on their afternoon walks.

"You can re-create or you can recreate, and they are both spelled the same way, but having great trails to walk on, to do that is wonderful," Morgan said. "A lot of our trails walk through great parks and wooded areas and different flora and fauna that people can experience all kinds of nature out on the trails."

The County will now enter into a contract with each municipality and each municipality will manage its own projects.