Trail extension selected for federal aid - al.com

Trail extension selected for federal aid - al.com: "GULF SHORES — City officials were told this month that their proposal to link the Orange Beach Backcountry Trail to their own bike path and sidewalk system has been chosen to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal aid.

The two-mile path through Gulf State Park has been assured of at least 80 percent funding through a federal transportation funding program, according to an April 10 letter from Gov. Bob Riley to city officials. But there's a chance the government might pick up most of the tab via the American Recovery and Reinvest ment Act, the governor wrote.

The economic stimulus program would pay the $555,812 cost of constructing the 10-foot-wide path — with the city paying the $38,000 design fees — but that money is 'first-come, first-served,' Diane Brown, Gulf Shores' special projects manager, told the City Council on Monday."