Lee MPO resubmits its Complete Streets Initiative for TIGER IV grant

On March 19th, the Lee MPO submitted a $10 million TIGER IV grant application for a complete streets initiative, which is an updated and enhanced version of its TIGER III application. (See June blog story).  As we reported in Feb. 18th blog post, that application ranked highly and we were encouraged by USDOT officials to resubmit this application.  The 45 letters of support that were submitted with the TIGER III application are part of the resubmittal package.

The grant request is for $10 million and has $4.6 million of local matching funds, for a total project cost of $14.6 million.  The project is broken down into 4 segments:

·         Segment #1: Bi-County Connector ($1.8 million) is a 22.8 mile segment that links Lee County, the City of Bonita Springs, and Collier County.  The project will close sidewalk and bike lane gaps, enhance signage and striping, and provide 10 new bus shelters, and enhance the new LinC bi-county new transit route. 

·         Segment #2:  University Loop ($2.9 million) is a 11.2 mile segment that fills the gaps in bike/ped facilities that link to the FGCU campus, and will provide way-finding and some amenities to encourage bicycle travel, along with enhancing bus service by providing 7 new bus shelters.

·         Segment #3: Treeline Connector ($0.3 million) is a 3.8 mile segment to close the few remaining bike gaps in this area.

·         Segment #4:  Lee County Tour de Parks Route ($5.1 million) is a 35 mile segment.  This route connects several major County Parks, anchored by Lakes Park, and is focused on enhancing eco-tourism.  This segment includes connecting the two Spring Training stadiums to the multi-use path system, to encourage alternative transportation to games.  This segment also include the Winkler/Jefferson Complete Streets demo project from the bike/ped master plan.  This segment also has a transit focus, with 14 new bus shelters and bike racks & bike lockers in strategic locations.

Like the previous rounds of USDOT TIGER grant competition, this is a very competitive process, but we've got our fingers crossed and are hoping that we'll be successful this time.  Grants should be awarded by the beginning of the summer.