From the New York Times: A one-mile bridge does not sound like a big project, any more than $81 million sounds like big money. But the recent groundbreaking for a one-mile, $81 million bridge on Florida’s Tamiami Trail was a huge event for people who care about the Everglades. It was one more encouraging sign that the effort to restore South Florida’s ecosystem remains alive.

The bridge project will raise one section of the Tamiami Trail’s roadbed to allow water to begin flowing into the Everglades and south to Florida Bay — much as it did before commercial development, canals and roadways deprived the Everglades of the freshwater flows that had made it one of the richest ecosystems on Earth.

The bridge symbolizes the Obama administration’s determination to get cracking on the $8 billion (now $12 billion) Everglades restoration project approved by Congress in 2000. The project was supposed to be a 50-50 deal shared by Florida and the federal government, but Washington has failed to honor the bargain. The state has provided $2.4 billion, the feds only one-fifth of that.

Now, not just the bridge but other federally financed projects are leaping off the drawing boards. Two important wetlands restoration projects on the state’s southwest and southeast coasts are to begin early next year.

There are two reasons for the change. One is an infusion of federal cash. The administration included more than $100 million for Everglades restoration in the stimulus package, and Congress anted up another $100 million. The other is an infusion of high-level interest. Carol Browner, President Obama’s top environmental adviser, is a longtime Everglades champion. Ken Salazar, the secretary of the interior, is equally committed. The notoriously dysfunctional Army Corps of Engineers, which will have to do much of the actual work, is finally in the hands of people who care.

Other sections of the trail must be elevated, other projects begun. Gov. Charlie Crist’s ambitious plan to buy and retire from production thousands of acres of sugar cane fields north of the park must be brought to fruition. (The deal would reduce pollution and provide room for reservoirs to store water that could be released during the dry season.)

The Office of Management and Budget wants major cuts in Everglades spending next year. The White House should resist them. Re-establishing momentum has not been easy, and it would be silly to arrest it now.