A 4-lane state route serves as a main artery to a major suburban commercial center, feeding an area consisting of 20 million square feet of office space.

The route includes a bridge originally built in 1935. The bridge needed structural repairs and widening to accommodate 36,000 daily vehicles. Complicating the effort was the impact on adjacent national parkland and environmentally sensitive areas.

Commercial real estate owners and the local government wanted to upgrade and improve the bridge and add a new 12-foot-wide multi-use trail. As head of the local community improvement district, Malaika Rivers led the effort to get the project done.

Given the project’s cost, the strategy included lobbying for federal funds. Malaika positioned the project with federal agencies, allowing Congressional-directed funds to help pay for the project.

The total cost of the project was $36.3 million. Commercial real estate owners in the area committed $4.3 million, or an average of $24,000 each, through a multi-year process. The balance, or $32 million, was committed by county, state, and federal sources.

The average ROI for each of the owners came to 1,333:1. For every $1 committed, another $1,333 was leveraged in public funds.