The town was awarded two separate grants from the Federal Land Access Program (FLAP), a program managed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The FLAP program seeks to improve community access to federally-held conservation properties—in this case, the Nantucket National Wildlife Refuge. The implementation of a path will provide pedestrians, cyclists, and other rollers better access to the main point of embarkation for tours of the refuge.
The first FLAP award was granted in 2016. The federal government committed $283,200 with a local match of $70,800 to support the design of the path. In a second 2018 award, the federal government committed $1,000,000 with a local match of $250,000 to support partial construction of the path between Polpis and Pocomo. In 2019, the Annual Town Meeting approved authorization to borrow $354,000 to support cash flow for the first grant award, intended to fund design services.
The town is working with the Federal Highway Administration to advance design of the path. Once this stage is complete, actual construction costs will be identified and shared on this website. Staff estimates that the grant awards and their local matches will not be enough to fund the path and is exploring additional funding opportunities. For example, Nantucket’s regional NP&EDC applied for an additional $823,050 to support the path’s construction in the 2022 FLAP program cycle.