By David Fleet
Editor
Atlas Twp.- A 2022 Atlas Township Recreational Path survey is now available.
Paulette Johnson, co-chair of the Walk, Bike, Run Atlas Township group said the survey is needed to plan the next sections of trails in the township. The first survey regarding township trials was completed in 2014 and since that time the Gale Road trail has been completed and the Perry Road trail is the next planned project.
To participate in the new survey go to Walk, Bike, Run Atlas Township and/or Atlastownship.org Facebook and https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3CLHD9T

“We are really excited about the Perry Road to Grand Blanc (township) section of trail,” said Johnson. “The Gale Road (trail) was completed in 2017, so now six years later the next phase of trials will begin. The new trail to Grand Blanc Township was the resident’s number one choice destination, according to the original 2014 trail survey. So, this is not only exciting, but also what the township resident’s asked for when this started.”
Phase 1, will begin in 2023, with the construction of the Iron Belle Trail from Atlas Township to Grand Blanc Township along the south side of Perry Road. The $1.65 million trail will connect an existing trail on Gale Road, through the Village of Atlas for about two miles west to the township line. Perry Road tree removal will begin late 2022 or early 2023 due to bat migration. Phase 2, the final section of the project will be in 2024 and include a bridge over Thread Creek via Mancour Drive then go to the Grand Blanc Middle School. The 10-feet-wide path will require a 14-feet swath with two-feet on each side of the trail.
In May 2021, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed HB 4469 which appropriated $37.8 million in Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grants that will support 76 recreation projects and land purchases throughout Michigan. The grants were recommended by the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board in December 2020. Some of the Perry Road trail funding was part of $27,289,600 with 30 acquisition grants and $10.5 million for 46 development grants. The project will be funded by a combination of federal, state and local sources including: MNRTF grant, $300,000; DNR Iron Belle Challenge Grant, $583,532;Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP), $1,120,000; Michigan Trails Fund, $100,000; Atlas Township, $174,000 and Grand Blanc Township, $50,000.
The matching funds will come from the township recreational pathways fund. Revenue is generated by a millage of .125 or $6.25 per year taxable value $100,000 was first approved by township voters in November 2014. Currently the trail fund grows at a rate of about $40,000 per year and as of April 2022, about $280,000 are in the township pathways fund.
The Iron Belle Trail, a state project which seeks to establish two continuous trails, one for biking and one for hiking, from Belle Isle in Detroit to Ironwood in the Upper Peninsula. Currently, more than 70 percent of the hiking and biking Iron Belle Trails are completed statewide.