The Lee County Board of Commission has executed an agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation which will allocate $705,783 in state funds to design a 12-foot wide trail.
The trail will run from Big Hickory Pass in Bonita to the new Big Carlos Pass Bridge on the south end of Fort Myers Beach.
The original allocation was $555,095 in funding, however, after negotiations with the number one ranked firm, the total fee was $1.26 million. The design phase is now fully funded with state money. Construction is also expected to be funded by the state but is not funded at this time.
Established in 2015, the Florida Shared-Use Non-motorized (SUN) Trail program receives an annual allocation from the redistribution of new vehicle tag revenues. Limited to the provisions of the law and adhering to FDOT Work Program Instructions, these “Wheels on the Roads” revenues are deposited into the State Transportation Trust Fund for the SUN Trail program. The combined legislation from 2014, 2015 and enacted changes in 2023 directs FDOT, among other charges, to focus funding for developing a safe statewide system of interconnected, high priority, strategic paved nonmotorized multi-use trails / two-directional Shared Use Paths (SUP) within the SUN Trail network for bicyclists and pedestrians as a component of the Florida Greenways and Trails System.