With land deals taken care of, the Mattapoisett Rail Trail pedals on to the next hurdle: getting money.

Bonne DeSousa, president of the Friends of the Mattapoisett Bicycle and Recreational Path, says this fall’s Town Meeting approval of a land easement from the Reservation Country Club and YMCA will help the path get federal funding.

“There’s a process you have to follow before getting approved,” DeSousa says. “First, the town has to develop all of the plans and secure the real estate. Then the state may approve to fund all of the construction and overseeing the design along the way.”

DeSousa says the cost of the bike path, which would connect Mattapoisett and Marion via the railroad bed along I-195, was estimated at nearly $2 million.

Since the project’s conception 15 years ago, only one mile has been completed. The “Old Colony Mile” stretches from the Fairhaven town line to Mattapoisett Neck Road and was opened in 2009. The “Shining Tides Mile,” the next phase of the project, would connect Mattapoisett Neck Road to Depot Street, crossing the Mattapoisett River and Eel Pond’s west breach along the way.

Old Colony Regional High School students completed a widening of the bridge over the river this year.

Members of the bike path committee attended a Joint Transportation Planning Group grant meeting Wednesday in an effort to secure funds.

The transportation group advises the state Metropolitan Planning Organization, which endorses federal funding for transit projects.

According to DeSousa, a grant approval could work in a couple of ways: The funds could come as a lump sum or be allocating in chunks as the work is completed.

The committee also raised funds during Harbor Days to construct a temporary pedestrian bridge over the Eel Pond breach. DeSousa says, however, that a waiver from the Army Corps of Engineers would be necessary first. She says the breach area is classified as a dune and that the Corps has jurisdiction.

“We’d like to have a pathway there now so that people can at least see how beneficial this project is,” DeSousa adds.

If the project is awarded a grant, DeSousa said construction could start by September 2012.

“We’re ready to move forward,” DeSousa says. “Nothing is set in stone, but the meeting Wednesday may determine all of that.”

The bike path was also recommended by the Community Preservation Committee last week for $37,000 to complete engineering and legal work on the land easement. Approval of those funds relies on a Town Meeting vote.

Marion’s fall Town Meeting approved $300,000 for the Sippican Lands Trust’s 12- acre acquistion from an affordable housing developer. The acquisition allows Marion to apply for nearly $1.5 million in federal funding.