The much anticipated Bonita Springs River Park is now open, allowing public access to the Imperial River for fishing, kayaking and canoeing at this southernmost part of the Calusa Blueway. An eagle’s nest briefly slowed construction; however, the project was completed without incident and will in turn allow safer eagle viewing from the park rather than from the U.S. 41 bridge. Johnson Engineering and the City worked to overcome extreme budget cutbacks and creatively turned an existing Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau Grant into a buildable first phase of the park. Our team also played a part in the removal and mitigation of exotic vegetation, grading, water management, temporary vehicular access and stabilized parking areas. The park now offers a boardwalk and small floating boat dock, and is scheduled to include an interpretive facility and additional boardwalks throughout the waterfront ecosystems.
Matt has been with Johnson Engineering since 2000 and has more than four decades of experience in the field of surveying. Matt became a partner of Johnson Engineering in 2005 and is the firm’s Director of Survey and Mapping. He has performed surveys for the public and private sector of Southwest Florida for many years. Matt has performed surveys for large landowners such as Babcock, Kitson Partners, United States Sugar Corporation, Hilliard Brothers of Florida, ALICO, McDaniel Ranch, Bob Paul, Inc. and Bonita Bay Group. Surveys included boundary surveys, topographic surveys, route/right-of-way surveys, construction layout and control surveys. He was born and raised in Hendry County and has a thorough working knowledge of Southwest Florida.