TYLER, Texas — Those who love the city of Tyler's trails and parks will get an extra few miles to explore soon.
The city is presenting an extension to the Legacy Trail Project and plans for its completion by next year.
"We want to provide active transportation opportunities for people to walk, bike and run in Tyler," said Cameron Williams, the city's traffic engineer.
This project will add an extra 2.2 miles of trail, which will be distributed into 1.7 miles of new walkways and 0.5 miles of sidewalks.
For Flint resident Sarah Clark and her dog Scarlet, this is very beneficial.
"We usually walk about two miles," Clark said. "If it were closer to us we could actually save gas money, and there's often times no parking here on a nice day."
This is phase two of the project and according to Deputy City Manager Stephanie Franklin, the city hopes to "eventually connect this trail system all the way from Flint to the Rose Garden."
"It'll actually go from State Highway 155 at W. E. Winters Park up to Peete Elementary," Williams said. "So this is something that's been in the planning stages for quite a while. We're to the point of actually doing design, and then hopefully look forward to moving forward with construction in the fall of 2023."
So how will the city fund this project?
"This is actually part of a grant funding project that the city is received through what's called the Transportation Alternative Set-Aside grant," Williams said. "So 80% of the construction cost is paid through federal funding. The other 20% is funded locally through the Half-Cent Sales Tax Fund."
Sales tax is something people may not even pay attention to but if they’re shopping, dining out or buying anything in Tyler, they're already contributing.
As for Clark and Scarlet, they’re grateful for Tyler's trails and this extension.
"You can walk along here when it's shady, even in the hottest day of summer," Clark said. "I'm so appreciative to whoever's paying for that, but it'd be really nice to get it closer to us because she's walking on hot days, only a mile."