ESTERO, Fla. — The Seminole Gulf Railway costs $82 million. The the Village of Estero and City of Bonita Springs are pitching in $5 million each. This decision was reached on Wednesday, December 18. The goal is to turn the train tracks into a pedestrian and cyclist path called the Bonita Estero Rail Trail (BERT).
Bruce Ackerman is one resident of The Vines, a gated neighborhood in Estero. The proposed shared-use path would cut through the community, at one point, raising concern for the people who live there.
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"Our concerns have always been the safety and security of our residents in our own community," he said.
BERT would connect nearly 15 miles between North Collier and Alico Road.
The tracks and land they're on are the first things to buy. Then comes a need to fund construction. Our local leaders are still working to come up with that money.
"We can still have a united message for BERT to our legislators that this is something that we want and as dollars start to open up, if there’s an opportunity, we can advocate for those," Bonita Springs Councilman Jesse Purdon said at Wednesday night's regular meeting.
Ackerman says people who live in The Vines are now, not so worried about the project. As the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) says security and gating will keep people on the path and not in the neighborhood.
"As it presently stands the Village and the MPO have gone a long way to promise our community that we will remain safe and secure," Ackerman said.
There is a deadline to raising the money for the purchase of trail. That $82 million dollars is needed by March 2026.
