If you've walked the footbridge at Riverside Park, you've seen it: the rusted trestle running parallel to your path, tracks disappearing into palmetto scrub on both ends, doing nothing. That corridor has sat idle since regular freight service stopped around 2009, and depending on who you ask, it's been an eyesore, a nature trail in waiting, or just background noise on the way to a concert at the bandshell.
In August, Bonita Springs voters decided which one it's going to be. The vote didn't start construction. It started two separate countdowns, and only one of them is something the city controls.
What the vote actually did
On August 18, Bonita Springs voters approved a $35 million bond to help fund the Bonita-Estero Rail Trail, known locally as BERT, by a 68 percent margin. Turnout was 21 percent, the kind of number that would normally invite questions about mandate. It didn't, not with a margin that lopsided.
The bond money doesn't build anything by itself. As WINK News reported, it's the city's share of a $60 million purchase price for 11.4 miles of former Seminole Gulf Railway corridor, split proportionally among Bonita Springs, the Village of Estero, and Collier County, with Bonita's segment covering 5.8 of those miles, from roughly Riverside Park south toward the Collier County line near Wiggins Pass Road. The referendum's passage was the last funding piece the Trust for Public Land needed to move toward closing on that land.
That price has moved before. Seminole Gulf, the Fay family company that's operated the line since 1987, held out for $70.44 million when talks stalled back in 2020. Negotiations resumed in 2023, and by February 2026 the Trust for Public Land had a revised deal on the table: $60 million, with closing pushed to October 2026.
The clock that belongs to the railroad, not the city
The August vote was one step in the project timeline. Passing the bond didn't clear the corridor. It authorized the money to buy it, and buying it still has to close.
Assuming that October 2026 closing target holds, Seminole Gulf then gets up to two years to physically remove the existing track. In a report by WINK News, Mayor Mike Gibson said: "It's going to be two plus years, so they have two years to vacate the railway, and then we'll break ground, and it's probably going to be at least a year of construction."
Run that math and the trestle behind Riverside Park could sit exactly as it looks today well into 2028 before a single section of trail surface goes down, and the earliest realistic opening for any finished stretch lands somewhere in 2029 or later. Portions could open in phases once engineering is further along, but the city itself hasn't committed to where those phases start or how long each one takes.
None of that makes the August vote symbolic. It moved the acquisition closer and locked the project into a single-issue bond, meaning the $35 million can only be spent on BERT and nothing else. It just means the corridor's transition from abandoned rail line to usable trail runs on a legal and logistical schedule that has almost nothing to do with how fast the city wants to move.
The version that got smaller before it got funded
What residents voted on in August isn't the trail that was originally pitched. Earlier planning envisioned the corridor extending farther north past Alico Road into additional Lee County trail connections. Lee County's government never opted into that northern extension, and the project that actually reached the ballot was the scaled-back version: Bonita Springs and Estero, tied south into Collier County, without the Alico Road leg.
That's worth knowing if you've seen older maps or heard the trail described with a bigger footprint than what's actually funded. The 11.4-mile Phase 1 corridor targeted for a fall closing runs from Estero Parkway down to the Collier County line, not up toward the Lee County connections that were once part of the pitch.
What it actually ties into on the ground
Strip away the acreage and bond figures and the corridor is mostly a straight line through places Bonita Springs residents already use. The old rail platform and siding near Riverside Park, close to the historic Liles Hotel and the artist cottages behind it, are some of the last physical remnants of the depot that once sat there. The footbridge over the Imperial River that runs alongside the abandoned trestle is already part of the park's daily foot traffic.
Once built, the trail is meant to connect north to the John Yarborough Trail and south to the Paradise Coast Trail, positioning BERT as one segment of a much larger planned network. Trust for Public Land has framed the long-term vision as part of a 42-mile ConnectLee system, and eventually a piece of the broader Florida Gulf Coast Trail concept stretching from Tampa to Naples. Supporters have pointed to Sarasota's Legacy Trail, which Trust for Public Land's Doug Hattaway said now draws more than 600,000 users a year, as the closest comparison for what a finished corridor could look like once it's actually open.
In WINK News, Friends of BERT president Deb Orton said:
"We're leaving a legacy for the people that come after us."
That's not a phrase you use for a project you expect to finish next spring.
What lands on a Bonita Springs tax bill
The bond is repaid over 30 years through property taxes, and the city has been transparent that the cost isn't zero. At past council meetings, members have estimated the bond would cost most homeowners somewhere between $45 and $88 a year. Gibson has said homeowners could start seeing that impact as early as next year, depending on when the bonds are actually issued.
Because it's a single-issue bond, that money is restricted to BERT acquisition and construction, with annual public audits required. It can't be redirected to unrelated city projects, and if the acquisition somehow falls through, the city doesn't draw down the debt at all.
What to actually watch for from here
If you live along the corridor or just walk past it at Riverside Park, the next year or two of visible milestones will be quieter than the referendum was. Here's what's actually on the calendar right now:
- October 2026: target date for the corridor purchase to close, pending final environmental review, appraisals, and title work
- Up to two years after closing: window for Seminole Gulf Railway to remove the existing tracks
- 12 to 24 months after that: projected construction period, with the city expecting possible phased openings rather than one single ribbon-cutting
None of those dates are locked in stone. Due diligence can slip, track removal can move faster or slower than the two-year ceiling suggests, and the city hasn't announced where construction would start first. But for a project that's been discussed in some form since Friends of BERT organized in 2022, the August vote brought the project closer to a possible opening, even if that remains years away.
If you're weighing what a project like this means for a specific property, street, or stretch of the corridor, that's a conversation worth having with someone who tracks these details locally rather than guessing from a headline. The MJ Team has been following Bonita Springs infrastructure and market shifts long enough to put news like this in context for the neighborhoods where it actually matters. Reach out anytime to talk through how the project could affect a property or neighborhood.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
