The Bonita Estero Rail trail is a proposed bike trail that will run from Alico Road along the 15-mile unused rail corridor through downtown Bonita Springs and Estero ending at Bonita Beach Road. BERT will connect to the John Yarborough Trail to the North and the Paradise Coast Trail to the South. Once complete, BERT will become part of the planned 42-mile ConnectLee trail network!

On February 15th, Deb Orton, President of BERT ( Bonita Estero Rail Trail), announced an exciting milestone for the proposed rail trail:

Friends of the Bonita Estero Rail Trail is very excited to announce to our members the completion of another major milestone toward establishing the Bonita EsteroRail Trail, (BERT).   After more than four years of negotiations led by the Trust for Public Land (TPL), Seminole Gulf Railway has agreed to terms to sell the 14.9-mile rail corridor that will be used for the eventual construction of BERT.   Over the next 24 months TPL, Friends of BERT and others will be working together to secure funding from federal, state, county, as well as Estero and Bonita Springs municipalities for the purchase of the rail corridor needed by March, 2026.   In addition, sometime during the next 24 months the Lee County MPO will be leading the effort for the required Project Development and Environment, (PD&E), study phase of the project.   Once the purchase has been finalized and the PD&E study completed, construction on the trail can begin.    Given that BERT has already been identified as a ‘priority trail’, the State of Florida’s SUN Trail program will likely be providing the funding for the construction.   Again, we are very excited about successfully reaching this major milestone that goes a long way in making BERT a reality.  Look for more information about this major milestone over the next day or two in your local news from the joint statement from the Trust for Public Land and Friends of BERT.   We will also have more information about this in our next newsletter, but feel free to reach out in the interim if you have any additional questions or are interested in helping.

This development is a major milestone for the trail, but there is still a long road ahead! If you would like to learn how you can help support BERT, visit https://bonitaesterorailtrail.com/.

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