When it comes to helping someone every second counts for first responders.
"If we don't make it to the scene then we can't help the patients or the person that has called us," said Meridian Battalion Chief Ken Phinney.
But whenever Meridian Township Fire and EMS are rushing to the hospital they take a moment to think about the roads to avoid.
"If you have someone with back injury or a broken bone or stuff even though you spline them and you secure them," Phinney said. "Still a rough ride could cause your patients harm cause them pain."
One of those rough ride roads is Michigan Avenue and the fastest way to get to Sparrow from Okemos Road is down it.
"It's heavily traveled. I mean, the amount of traffic that is on Michigan avenue, yeah it doesn't take much for a small pothole to become a large pothole," Phinney said.
Lansing's Chad Gamble has been working with CATA Bus for five years on ways to improve the avenue.
"We rehabilitated it in 1997 and 1998 so we're coming up on 20, 20 years after that which is scary to believe," said Gamble.
He says due to lack of funding, Michigan avenue and many other streets haven't been touched.
"it is the classic case of what has happened due to the decades of under funding of road funding from the state of Michigan," Gamble said.
But most of Michigan Avenue will soon see that reconstruction. A change Meridian fire can't wait to see.
