BERT Funding Update
Trust for Public Land (TPL), in coordination with the four jurisdictions of Lee and Collier counties, the Village of Estero and the City of Bonita Springs, continues to make excellent progress toward the goal of securing the funding needed to purchase the Seminole Gulf Railway corridor for the future Bonita Estero Rail Trail (BERT). BERT aims to improve Lee and Collier communities by purchasing a 14.9-mile underutilized railroad corridor and constructing a beautiful public greenway trail connecting people and neighborhoods to schools, shopping areas, jobs, local parks, preserves, and each other. The targeted funding includes a series of grant applications and various appropriations requests at the federal, state and local levels. Grant applications and appropriations requests will be prioritized and completed according to application deadlines and legislative session schedules stretching between now and mid-2025, and likely beyond.
Once each of the grant applications and appropriation requests have been submitted a waiting period begins to determine what amounts, (if any), have been granted before we can bank the funds toward the purchase of the corridor. At this point TPL has identified a total of $134 million in potential sources of funds of which $82 million will be needed to purchase the rail corridor by the closing deadline March 2026. To date, $10 million of the $82M has already been secured. The total potential funding of $134 million includes $70M identified at the federal level, $46M at the state level, and $18M at the local level. Additional funding may be sought as other opportunities are identified. The first federal grant application for the purchase of the rail corridor was completed in mid-July by the four jurisdictions of Lee and Collier counties, the City of Bonita Springs, and the Village of Estero in coordination with TPL, for funding from the federal Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program (ATIIP). (Lee County was the lead applicant). The ATIIP application request was for $12 million. There is much work ahead of us to get this over the goal line, but a tremendous amount of work has already been done and we are off to a great start!
