An angler tries his luck casting for large mouth bass on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015, at Faulkner Park Lake in Tyler, Texas. Planning is in the works to install new trails around the lake area in the city-owned park. Andrew D. Brosig/Tyler Morning Telegraph

The miles of walking and biking trails at Faulkner Park are anticipated to double by the spring.

On Wednesday, the Tyler City Council approved a Texas Parks and Wildlife grant and a private donation to add about 2 miles of walking trails to the facility.

The path would encircle the Faulker Park Lake and create a boardwalk over a portion of the water and a fishing pier. It would connect to the entrance of the existing 2 miles of trails at one end and to the park’s playground and splash pad area. The path will travel alongside the existing entry road into the park so runners would no longer have to jog alongside traffic.

The city applied for the grant in January 2014, and accepted the $98,300 grant on Wednesday. The total project will cost slightly more than $131,000. The Parks and Wildlife grant will pay for 75 percent of the project, according to the city.

The East Texas Woods and Water Foundation donated $25,000 to the project, and the Faulkner family committed to a $6,000 donation – making it possible to complete the project without spending Tyler taxpayer dollars.

Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Rollings said the city has to complete final design plans before bidding out the construction work. She expects the trails to be complete in the spring.

In addition to the walking trail around the lake, the city also is anticipating building an additional six miles of bike trails at the park, Ms. Rollings said. The move would double the miles of trails at the facility.

The bike trails were approved more than a year ago but were held up by the completion of an archeology survey for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“We had to follow all the federal guidelines,” she said.

The two projects likely will be done simultaneously to make the projects more appealing to contractors.

In the long term, the trails at Faulkner Park will connect into a regional trail system.

In September, the city was approved for a $3.5 million grant from the Texas Transportation Commission for Legacy Trails, the first planned regional hike and bike trail.

The funds will be used for the construction of a multi-use trail that eventually will extend from Grande Boulevard to Gresham. The city will match $1.6 million for the project, which will come from half-cent sales tax monies.

Phase I of The Legacy Trail will start at Three Lakes Parkway and incorporate sections of Old Jacksonville Highway southward to Gresham. The trail will go down an out-of-use railroad bed owned by TxDOT that was once used to connect Tyler to Bullard.

The trail also will go travel the new section of Cumberland Road northward to Three Lakes Parkway. Future phases will extend the 10-foot-wide concrete trail from Three Lakes Parkway northward to West Grande Boulevard.

Walking and bike trails also are incorporated into the construction of Cumberland Road, which runs beside Faulker Park and extends to Old Jacksonville Highway.

Tyler Legacy Trails eventually would connect Grande Boulevard to Cumberland Road, connecting Southside Park, the South Tyler Trail and Rose Rudman to Faulkner Park.

Ms. Rollings said the funding for the Legacy trails project is approved, but still in in the design phase. There is so no set timeline for its completion, she said.

TWITTER: @TMTFaith