ED MATTHEWS / Staff

Gary and Irene Doriat, vacationers from Toronto, Canada, bike down the trail along Hickory Boulevard in Bonita Springs on Thursday, July 24, 2008. Lee County officials plan on adding to the current path, extending it from Forester Road to Hickory Pass, giving riders better access to the causeway and Fort Myers Beach.

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Bonita Beach bike riders may soon have a safer path.

Lee County Transportation Director Scott Gilbertson said this week that widening and paving the shoulders of Hickory Boulevard, where the 4-laning ends, to Big Hickory Pass are already in place. The wider road already has paved shoulders that serve as bike paths.

The road also has a paved 5-foot off-road path which bikers share with pedestrians. The paved shoulders are designed more for higher-speed bikers on longer rides.

Many believe these possible paths are much needed along the beach.

“The path that’s there first of all has been a bike and walking path. People have almost had wrecks walking and biking,” said Winston Church, a Bonita Beach resident and board member of the Bonita Beach Improvement Association.

Bike paths on roads like U.S. 41 may make sense, Church said, but coastal roads like Hickory Boulevard get more bike traffic.

“Dad’s not going to take the kids for a ride on 41,” he said.

Gilbertson said the project could go into the budget in 2010. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will get done in 2010.

“We have to look to get it in the budget,” he said. “We have to put it on the list with all the other stuff.”

County project engineer Andy Getch estimated the nearly two miles of paved shoulder would cost about $500,000. Getch said bike path advocates have been pushing the project for years. It’s been ranked behind other projects, like extending paths near Manna Christian mobile home park at the east end of Bonita Beach Road.

By tapping into resurfacing funds instead of more limited bike path funding, the project may have a better chance. Gilbertson said the county typically budgets between $3 million and $4 million for resurfacing.

“We had already done it up north of there on Black Island and Hickory Island,” Gilbertson said. “On Bonita Beach Road we have sidewalks and bike paths. In between, we have a sidewalk only on one side.”

Adding more bike paths means adding more future expense, too, said county transportation planning chief Dave Loveland, especially if the rest of the paved shoulders county-wide are designated as bike paths. Commissioners are supposed to discuss that change in August.

Loveland said it could cost more than $900,000 annually, since bike paths require more maintenance than mere paved shoulders.

“It impacts the operating budget, and we’re being asked to cut the operating budget,” Loveland said. “The operating budget is mostly gas taxes and property taxes and they are both declining.”