SBCTA accepting bids for connector project

The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority is accepting construction bids for the Highland/Redlands Regional Gap Connector Project.

That project, a collaboration between the authority, the Caltrans, Highland and Redlands, will create bicycle and pedestrian paths between those two cities, according to a statement on the authority’s website.

Bids will be accepted once the project’s plans are approved, the authority decided at its September meeting.

The $8.9 million project will connect the future Santa Ana River Trail at Orange Street, a link that will allow residents, students, and recreational users to use a trail system that is expected to reach the Pacific Ocean, according to the statement.

Rep. Pete Aguilar  D-San Bernardino, secured $2 million in federal funding for the project, the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee provided $3 million, and various amounts came from the Federal Carbon Reduction Program funds, local cities and Measure I, a half-cent sales tax approved by county voters in 1989 and extended in 2004, according to the statement.