Following the more formal comments from Mathew Maher, Senior Associate Traffic Engineer at Stantec Consulting, Don Scott, Executive Director of the Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization, and Carmen Monroy, Senior Transportation Manager at CTS Engineering, a question-and-answer session followed. In some cases, residents made more general remarks they considered important.

The Trauma of a Death from a Traffic Accident.

• Initially, Carmen pointed out the devastating reaction caused to families when having to inform them of a loss of a loved one due to a traffic accident – something she needed to do in the earlier part of her career. She said that it was important to consider when rushing out somewhere on our roads or not paying attention when driving.  She said, “I urge you to take personal responsibility and be safe on our roadways. Be courteous, and remember driving is a privilege.”

The Cascades Junction.

• A resident raised concerns about the Cascades and the Reserve junction. It is a junction, as mentioned earlier in the meeting, that was felt to be one where a serious accident could occur. The resident stated, “The village has responsibility to take care of this, and if they don’t, it’s neglect. They have been told about this for many years.

Now what happens is, if somebody does get killed or get hurt there, they have an opportunity to sue the village.” While this may or may not be possible (as it is understood to be the Lee Department of Transport’s (LDOT) responsibility that has the responsibility for making the change), it is clear that more needs to be done to address the problem. Mayor Jon McLain suggested a roundabout to solve the issue some time ago, but it did not seem to have support.

Many residents, including the manager of The Cascades, objected to that potential solution at the time. Mathew Maher asked those who were concerned to see him after the meeting to discuss the issue in detail so that he could determine the most suitable action. Given the advantages of a roundabout (increased safety and improved traffic flow), there might be a change of heart on this issue.

Speeding.

• Comments were made about the speeding that occurs at various times, often on a Sunday or late at night, which does not appear to have been addressed despite many complaints.

Landscaping Causing Visibility Issues.

• A further comment aimed at the Village was that they needed to be aware of places where vegetation and landscaping interfere with the line of sight at various junctions.

Electric Bikes and Scooters.

• Concern was expressed about electric bikes riding on the sidewalk and the danger this poses for pedestrians. Mathew said, “Micromobility is one of the key themes we’re touching on in our safety action plan. That was a common theme we saw in Fort Myers, and we produced clips of near-miss incidents involving those on electric scooters and E-bikes. There are strategies in place that we’ll be recommending, even beyond enforcement strategies, such as education campaigns, to get people to be more cognizant of the risks this poses.”

Forward Planning.

• One resident felt that road planning must be addressed before the layout led to crashes. The resident again expressed dismay that no representative from the Village was present at the meeting.

“You must have at least one or 2 of the people there. No one comes to these meetings. It’s the second or 3rd time I’ve come to these: That’s not right, a disgrace. We have planning folks. We have counselors that don’t seem to be involved in these things, and they were the ones that started the ECCL. Thirdly, County Commissioners, as long as developers fund them, we won’t see any change. I’m sorry!”

• Engage Estero knows that Florida’s Sunshine laws may prohibit several Council members from being present. The potential legal dangers can be avoided if those present are merely observers and do not become involved in any discussion.

Trash and Bike Lane Concerns.

• Concerns were expressed about the lousy behavior relating to throwing trash on the roadways, inappropriate use of crosswalks, and violations that stop people from using the bike lanes!

Lack of Feedback.

• Several residents at the meeting found it sad to hear that no tangible action was being taken despite appeals to the Village and the sheriff’s office.

“I have had no feedback from anybody on the Council, including the Representative for District 4, and also no feedback from FDOT, the sheriff’s department, the highway patrol, or anybody else. So, we have a situation where you can spend a lot of time planning, but nothing is being done!”

Cyprus Bend.

• One resident said that it was difficult to get out of their Cyprus Bend community because the traffic flow was 55mph, although many did more than that speed. Perhaps this could be investigated further.

Widening Corkscrew Road to 6 lanes (between I-75 and US:41)

• Allan Bowditch asked whether there were any plans to increase the number of lanes on Corkscrew Road between I-75 and US 41 to 6 lanes. In response, Don Scott said, “So, as the long-range plan is updated right now, I am modeling it in as six lanes. I don’t know how far it will go from a cost feasibility aspect. The section between Three Oaks and I-75 includes six lanes, too.”

State Road 951.

• Don went on to talk more about State Road (SR) 951 and mentioned that the reason behind examining this road option once more was to explore the broader regional options and the intersections needed in the county.

Rush-Hour Traffic in Estero.

• Not surprisingly, there was also a discussion about the high traffic density from Bonita Beach Road up US 41 and on Three Oaks during the evening rush hour period from 3-30pm to 6 pm. While the suggestion was made to extend the light at the junctions with the highest traffic density, it was pointed out that the result would be a build-up of traffic density on the other roads. A key problem is funding: “Money is going to be one of the biggest issues, but we’re trying to look at some of the improvements as part of that.”

While a resident complained that roadway plans were not implemented soon enough to cope with the population expansion, especially on Corkscrew Road East, there was acceptance that, unfortunately, the catch-up will never get to where everyone would like it to be. This is the case in southwest Florida and other parts of the USA. However, the view expressed that ordinances need to change to alter the act that impact fees were lowered, reducing the revenue level that could have been used for road improvements.

A Development Moratorium?

• A suggestion was put forward to put a moratorium on development for a specific time, as occurred in Montgomery Township, Pennsylvania. It is unclear whether this would be considered acceptable to the Lee County Commissioners and the Planning and Zoning Board.

• The panelists reiterated that they would be pleased to hear from the public about any specific concerns they have in their neighborhood and will investigate the situation.

Some subsequent questions asked later have been submitted to the panel for a response.

New Questions after the Meeting.

Road capacity formulas can estimate the maximum number of vehicles passing a given point in one hour. The formulas can consider factors such as the number of lanes, traffic speed, and vehicle spacing.

Q1. Is the Level of Service (LOS) factor considered when Lee County Roads are upgraded/widened?

Q2. Why, in this age of real-time data, is the traffic count data on the LC DOT website only through 2023?

Q3. Why did the I-75 widening stop at Corkscrew Rd. when the widening needed to go to Alico?

Q4 When Alico is extended to State Road 82, it seems likely that the workers from Lehigh Acres will use Alico Road to get to I-75 and go south to work in Collier County. Has this fact been considered in the planning process? What will be done?

Q5. Please keep us updated on the discussions about the 951 study potentially going through Estero.

Q6. When is the next time Lee County roads will be reviewed by the MPO and potentially reprioritized?

Q7. A Statement rather than a question: Earlier this week, at 12 – 30 pm, driving west from I-75 to the Three Oaks traffic light.

Because the off-side lane was moving slower than the nearside lane as the light at Lowes (where Wawa is located), several cars moved to the nearside lane to get past that traffic light. However, as several of those cars wanted to make a left turn as they approached the Three Oaks light, they had to cut into the offside lane first and then proceed to the two lead-off left lanes to go south on Three Oaks, causing several cars to stop suddenly. This seems likely to cause a potential accident sooner rather than later. This has become a bustling section that was not even at its peak time. It begs the question: How long will Estero need to wait before any action on the stretch of road?

The Engage Estero’s Management Team thanks the three speakers for their time, insights on this critical topic, and readiness to examine specific concerns from the public. If there are essential questions or observations that residents would like us to pass on, please email engageesterocco@gmail.com