FEMA offers $800,000 to help repair Jolley Bridge catwalk

All hope has not vanished for fishing enthusiasts who miss using the pedestrian walkway under the Jolley Bridge.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has ponied up $800,000 to help repair the structure damaged by Hurricane Wilma last October.

The rub is that the Florida Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the bridge, is still having difficulty getting the $1.2 million repairs finished because it doesn't have the money for the rest of the project.

Wilma caused minimal damage to the bridge itself, but badly damaged the walkway, causing the FDOT to remove portions and close it.

After realizing the agency had no money to repair and reopen the walkway, it hunted for other funding sources.

"We had pursued funding from the Federal Highway Administration and that request was not approved," said Debbie Tower, a spokesperson from the FDOT. "I don't think we have money in hand, we just have that word from FEMA."

With that help, the FDOT is now trying to see if other sources such as the city of Marco Island or Collier County would take on the task of repairing the structure with the FEMA grant.

"We weren't able to make those repairs or build new fishing piers," Tower said. "We have asked the city of Marco if they're interested in taking the funding."

Lisa Douglass, the public information coordinator for the city, said that the agency only requested that city officials install $100,000 in lights.

She added that regardless of whether the agency wanted the city to take on responsibility of the lighting or the whole project, it falls out of the city's jurisdiction. As a result, city officials are not interested in spending money on it.

"We explained that it wasn't anything we had on our radar, but if they wanted to provide us with a grant we would certainly do that," Douglass said. "The city council has advised us that we would not spend any money outside of the city of Marco limits."

A spokesperson for Collier County Parks and Recreation, which is handling FDOT's inquiry, could not be reached for comment.

Dasha Castillo, a spokesperson for FEMA, was unable to find information on the grant by presstime.