Mississippi is investing more than $13 million to improve the museum district at Lefleur's Bluff State Park in Jackson, including expansions to a walking trail, a new pavilion, and a golf course being designed by the world-renowned golf architect Robert Trent Jones. Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann says the investment is a way to attract new tourists and entertain Mississippians.
“We’re fixing to have a world-class, first-class place to take your children,” says Hosemann. “Whether you’re rich or poor or whatever, you’ll be able to go to a place where you can take your children. Fish, stay out overnight, all that kind of things. Make something open to Mississippians that we’ve really neglected in the past quite frankly.”
The Lt. Governor says the state hired four architect firms to assess the needs of state parks in Mississippi and found that some have severe damage to infrastructure. The state allocated $38 million in ARPA funds to address these issues.
Lynn Posey is the Interim Director of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. He says this funding can help to build new cabins, camping sites, and update amenities in the coming years.
Posey says “I think 3-5 years down the road you’ll really start seeing some tangible results, and really results before then, but it’s just going to take a while to cover a lot of ground. There’s a lot of parks out there that are affected, and we want to do it top-notch. We don’t want to do it just halfway this time, we’re going to try to do it the right way.”
Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith has also announced federal funding to construct a new pedestrian bridge across Lakeland Drive to connect Leflure’s Bluff museum trails with the Sports Hall of Fame and Ag Museum.
