With an additional commitment from Bonita Springs City Council in mid-April, proponents of the Bonita Estero Rail Trail said they are nearing the halfway mark of the $70.4 million needed to fund phase one of the project.
Bonita Springs City Council voted April 16 to pledge an additional $12 million toward acquisition of the right of way for the former Seminole Gulf Rail corridor designated for the proposed Bonita Estero Rail Trail. This follows a pledge of $5 million approved by Council in late December.
The project has also received pledges of $15 million from the village of Estero in December and $900,000 from the Collier County Board of Commissioners in January.
In addition to the financial commitments, the three jurisdictions approved a memorandum of agreement establishing a joint task force to coordinate funding efforts for the trail that would convert a 14.9-mile segment of the unused Seminole Gulf Railway rail corridor stretching from Alico Road to Collier County into a hiking and biking trail.
Deb Orton
Total funds pledged for the corridor stand at nearly $33 million to secure phase one of the rail corridor, running 11.4 miles from Wiggins Pass Road in Collier County to Estero Parkway in Lee County.
The deadline to raise the $70.4 million is March 2026.
While two Lee County municipalities — city of Bonita Springs and village of Estero — have pledged support, Lee County commissioners to date have not committed any funds.
Deborah Orton, co-founder and president of the nonprofit Friends of BERT, said the Lee County commission has been transparent about not committing to the project at this time.
“They have been open and honest with us about the fact that they have other priorities,” Orton said. “They support the project, but they have other priorities for their use of funds so they’re unable to participate at this point.”
Orton said the pledges by local municipalities to almost 50% of the phase one goal can improve the odds of receiving state, federal and private funds.
She said she also is hopeful that Lee County will eventually take part.
“I believe that as they begin to really understand how transformational this is they’ll jump on board,” Orton said. “Certainly, Collier County, Bonita Springs and Estero are excited about it. They understand what a rail-to-trail project can do for their counties and their communities.”
Chris Corrie
Bonita Springs council member Chris Corrie, a vocal supporter of the project, said he sees BERT as “probably the most important project I think we can undertake in the next 10 years.”
In addition to the safety aspect in terms of helping prevent pedestrian and bicyclist deaths, Corrie said other rail projects in the state, including in Sarasota County and Pinellas County, have brought economic benefit for businesses and restaurants.
“When you build a bicycle trail, we’re looking at tens of millions of dollars on an annual basis that would be generated for business in the city of Bonita Springs because there would be tens of thousands of people using the trail over the course of the year,” Corrie said. “And it would remove, finally, what I consider to be a really ugly scar that runs through Bonita Springs because the Seminole Gulf Railroad has not maintained that railroad right of way for over a decade.”
When complete, according to Friends of BERT, the trail would become part of the planned 42-mile Florida Gulf Coast Trail network in Lee County and ultimately part of the more than 400-mile Florida Gulf Coast Trail from Collier County to Tampa.
