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The Safety Action Plan

Mathew started the talk by summarizing the crash analysis for our area between 2019 and 2023 (see Appendix 1). He explained that the Federal Highway Administration has funded the Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization to review all roadways in Lee County.

During the 5 years of the crash analysis, there were 3,000 crashes in Estero! 80 of these resulted in a serious injury or fatality. Over the last 12 months, Engage Estero has received many comments from residents expressing their concerns about traffic safety in Estero. This level is higher than the average statewide statistics, which warrants the Village “drilling down to examine the Estero situation to examine what’s happening on our roadways, and what can we do to improve.”

Given the seriousness of the situation, many residents in the audience were very upset that no one from Estero’s Village Management or Council Members had chosen to attend the meeting.  

Mathew explained the analysis identified which specific intersections had been responsible for the highest and most serious accidents. These important data are included in the PowerPoint presentation, which can be viewed on our website linked with this summary.

Stantec Consulting has produced recommendations to address these intersection-based crashes. The types of crashes include rear-end collisions, T-bone crashes, and right-angle crashes.

There was a range of audience questions that expressed concerns about-

1. The allowance of U-turns at traffic lights:

• The point here was that they can lead to rear-end collisions because cars making a U-turn slow down appreciably.
• If several cars make a U-turn, it slows down the traffic making a left turn, increasing the likelihood that cars may go through on the red light.
• Increased delay can lead to frustration, stress, and risky driving behaviors.

1. Allowing left turning traffic to turn left when a green arrow goes off, but still allows traffic to turn when the road allows across the oncoming lanes (as an example, where the traffic can turn left from US41 into Williams Road, where the tragic accident occurred in 2024). Mathew mentioned that they were suggesting at high crash locations “protected signal phasing.” The intersection of US 41 and Williams has been a flashpoint in this community.

• Several wondered why, especially at the above-mentioned intersection, why this light sequence hasn’t already changed only to allow turns across oncoming traffic when the green arrow is shown.
• This traffic light, plus others, is proposed to only allow traffic to turn only when the green arrow allows – known as “protected signal phasing”.

While there was sympathy expressed to those who felt that the change being mentioned at US 41 and Williams Road, was long overdue, he explained his team can only make recommendations to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to look into the feasibility of each issue, and FDOT determine the timetable for the actions needed.

A resident pinpointed the growing difficulty making a left turn from Coconut Road going west onto the southbound lane of US 41. The traffic is now overflowing the two left lanes and there is too little time allowed for the turn. Mathew made a note of this point, regarding the issue of queue spillback.

Mathew pointed out many other improvements that are being examined and proposed. These involve:

• Line of sight: Ensuring that landscaping does not interfere with one’s ability to see clearly at a junction.
• Improving cross-walk visibility: Parallel lines are being replaced by cross hatching and ladder style marking that are far more visible. Lighting is also a factor in specific locations that involves floodlighting solutions focused on the pedestrians.
• Vehicle Detection Technology to avoid T-bone crashes at traffic lights: In the city of Lakeland, the municipality has implemented several modifications at traffic lights. Measures that we’re seeing could be adapted to possibly county signals or state signals in the future. This is a signal detection technology which detects a car that is running a red light and automatically switches all lights to red. It extends what is called an “all red interval,” meaning all vehicles on approach to the intersection, have a red indicator. Although that does reduce intersection capacity, it mitigates the occurrence of a right-angle collision, which has more of a propensity to result in a fatality or a serious injury and ensuing residual delays.

Mathew made the point that the recommendations that are put forward are NOT based only on crash data (areas mapped in red in the PPT). Since crashes are random events, there remain roads or intersection facilities that require safety improvements, even if they haven’t experienced crashes (areas mapped in orange in the PPT). This is why the Lee County MPO study accounts for systemic study area data, such as roadway geometric features and demographic data, to also determine locations in need of safety improvements.

Roundabouts/ Traffic Circles

Where there are accidents or difficulties in less trafficked areas, a solution is to convert the junction to a traffic circle or roundabout. Although many Americans do not appear to approve of roundabouts, they are safer than a traffic light junction.

1. a) Because collisions are invariably significantly more likely to be glancing ones or rear-end, not T-bone.
2. b) Because speeds are reduced.

Traditional signalized intersections tend not to calm traffic speeds. Many residents or business owners that were initially against the introduction of roundabouts in particular locations changed their view after they were implemented!

Rumble Strips

Other steps to keep traffic running smoothly and safely are the introduction of center line and edge line rumble strips. Essentially, this is all meant to mitigate the occurrence of runoff road traffic, to ensure traffic stays within the lane of travel and also prevent head-on crashes. You’ll notice, maybe on newer roads, that you will start to audibly sense the shoulder rumble strips, indicating that you’ve strayed off the path, and that you need to get your vehicle back onto the path of travel.

Entrances and Exits on Busy Roads

Another focus has been on conducting access management studies on high injury network corridors, where you have a lot of driveway density, is extremely important. As an example, corridors with a high number of intersecting driveways invite people driving left-turns into and out of the Strip Mall or other retail destinations, thereby introducing numerous conflict points with high speed through traffic. The idea behind an access management study is either consolidating points of access or revoking them entirely to reduce crash likelihood.

Bike Lanes

The work undertaken by Stantec also involves bicycles as well as vehicular traffic. Bike lanes are an important means of keeping bike riders safer than they would otherwise be. In addition, there is considerable support for taking bike riders off the roads altogether by using “off-road” routes. The introduction of BERT that will provide several miles of trails from Bonita Springs to Alico Road and potentially beyond, will be an important development in helping bike riders and help to reduce traffic density. In addition, to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety, Leading Pedestrian Intervals¹ and pedestrian hybrid beacons² will be proposed.

1) https://highways.dot.gov/safety/proven-safety-countermeasures/leading-pedestrian-interval

2) https://highways.dot.gov/safety/proven-safety-countermeasures/pedestrian-hybrid-beacons

Increased Traffic Enforcement.

Mathew went on to discuss the interesting results of a study carried out that indicated 71% of residents in Lee County desired increased traffic law enforcement. He said, “We’ve seen that (increasing enforcement) is a huge theme throughout the study. There’s a feeling of disinvestment in local enforcement, and it’s leading to riskier driver behaviors. So, we’re not only proposing engineered crash solutions, but also policy and political based solutions that need attention. What we’re going to be discussing in our Safety Action Plan Document, which will be available for public review at the end of the study, is policies and funding strategies.”

It was considered important to introduce programs for police officers to ensure that they dedicate more of their time to traffic enforcement.

Other Concerns.

During the presentation, there were other specific comments raised which included one from residents in the Cascades that have expressed concern about their junction to leave and turn onto Estero Boulevard. Residents thanked Mathew for including changes to assist the situation. A resident explained that “as drivers are trying to go across to take a left to go west, other drivers coming out of the Reserve are looking to go east. Those cars are almost hitting each other when they try to get in the center. Then we’re told that if you’re in the center it’s against the law to stay in the center.”

Other residents expressed concerns about the safety of the traffic “corridor” that runs through the greater Estero area – confirmed by the earlier accident statistics – and while it was reassuring to appreciate the work being done to examine these issues, little improvements have been made by State and County officials to date.

The summary below is the range of suggestions that are in place for Estero: They include: –

• Pedestrian bridges over US 41 – Coconut Road, Williams Road, Corkscrew Road
• Increased enforcement and lower speed limits
• Better drainage and street signs
• Clean streets of debris
• Traffic calming Broadway west of US 41
• Signal at Estero/Cascades
• Too many apartments/infrastructures were not keeping up with growth

Mathew emphasized that the work being done was continual even though there are annual reports produced. He welcomed, as did the other speakers, the need to communicate concerns as they would be looked into, and depending on the outcome, be incorporated in the findings that were put forward to the State and local officials.

Future Plans for our Road Network

Don Scott began his talk by referring to the Metropolitan Planning Office’s plans and addressing the escalating costs linked with future road construction that have arisen. One important option to improve the north-south travel for traffic east of I-75 has been to re-examine the possibility of extending Route 951.

This was examined back in 2028 when the costs of developing this road were $820M. This has now risen to $1.8B. It is in the Lee and Collier Needs Plan.

The study looked at updated cost, projected volumes, and changes within the corridor as this came up as part of the I-75 Master Plan that was completed in 2023. The earlier study in 2008 assumed the new roadway to be a limited access toll road. The prior study was stopped due to multiple issues at the time (cost, economic downturn, I-75 improvements, and environmentalists & residents’ concerns).

A new suggested route will be considered that would run further east than the earlier proposed route. See Below:

Don referred to the earlier details of the proposed MPO plan and these details are as follows:

• I-75 widening from Golden Gate Parkway to Corkscrew Road – 6 to 8 lanes
• Three Oaks Extension from North of Alico Road to Daniels Parkway – New 4 lanes Phase I under CST
• I-75 and Daniels Interchange – DDI (diamond exchange) & 8 lanes from Fiddlesticks to I-75 (8L in Three Oaks phase II)
• Corkscrew Road from Bella Terra to East of Alico Road – 2 to 4 lanes under CST completion Spring 2026
• Alico Road Connector from Airport Haul Road to SR 82 – New 4 lanes.

Projects that will start soon (in 2 years) as indicated in the summary above, will be the road widening to 8 lanes of I-75, from Golden Gate to Corkscrew Road. This should be accomplished in the next 5 years. There will also be the extension of Three Oaks Parkway from Alico Road to Daniels. And also, an 8-lane section on Daniels from Fiddlesticks over to the I-75 interchange as well.

The revenues calculated for the proposed plans and associated developments can be seen in Appendix 2. The figures are in 000’s and indicate that for 2026-2030 the budget is estimated to be just under $600M. It appears that the road construction costs are now a major factor in determining what new road developments might move forward despite the recognition that population growth is not likely to slow over the coming years. Don pointed out that even within the last 5 years, road construction costs have doubled, while revenue has dropped.

Although the MPO is also examining a potential major roadway further to the east, something that has been floated as a possible means of assisting those developments taking place further inland, the likely costs for such a venture are also daunting. The probability is that this might not be accomplished until around 2050 if then!

While residents have expressed their frustrations that the planned road developments are lagging well behind the increased population growth and the residential and commercial developments taking place, the revenue stream and increasing costs are a major factor not helped by the earlier reduction in impact fees that developers need to pay for roads when commencing their projects and the gas tax revenue collections that are slowing down due to more fuel-efficient vehicles/electric vehicles.

Workforce Housing.

Carmen spoke passionately about this topic, one that she has been focused on for some time in addition to her expertise in road traffic issues. Workforce housing should not be confused with the older blue-collar workforce housing provisions. The provision of such homes and apartments is often integrated into normal condominium or apartment buildings, as well as single-family homes. There is a desperate need across the USA and Canada for workers that provide essential services to be able to live near their place of work. The obvious advantages are

• Reduced outlay from those individuals’ salaries.
• A reduction in workers leaving their jobs to find work elsewhere. (important in many circumstances e.g. teachers, healthcare workers, emergency response workers, restaurant staff etc.)
• Reduced traffic density as people do not need to use vehicles for commuting through a municipality.
• Less pollution from vehicles.
• Improved travel times
• Less stress from many.

Carmen pointed out the importance that should be attached to “A Sense of Place.” This is a location of special importance and one where if you took a picture, you would know instantly where that person was. She said, “Florida because of all of the beautiful things that are around us, is one of those places and Estero too. But we need to make it better. There is this incredible connection between land use and the decisions that we make about our housing and the connections to our transportation network and system. Our systems have to be connected, and they have to travel through communities.”

• 99,747 households in Lee County are cost burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on housing expenses
• 47,736 are severely cost burdened, spending more than 50% of

their income on housing expenses

• Vehicle Miles Traveled has been growing by 2.5% per year at a slightly faster rate than our population.
• Live Local projects are being proposed.
• Recently launched affordable housing development programs with funding from the CDBG Disaster Recovery funds.

Although the difficulties of newly qualified individuals or others in the early stages of their careers, finding it hard to live close to their place of work, have existed for several years, these problems have been magnified more recently. The affordability of homes did drop a few years back, but in the last three years, they have risen significantly.   What has occurred has increased tension in the community as people cannot afford to live here.  When they cannot live close to their place of work, it results in increased traffic.

Carmen explained that the result is:

• much wider roads needed.
• much longer queues.
• much longer stops at intersections.
• more fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways.

When you look at some of the proposals for workforce housing, and you look at the math of rental properties for people who are looking to enter the market, young families, people who are just starting their career, we have a real need to find solutions, she said. There is a need to have a land use that is diverse enough to allow for inclusive housing. The result is you create a better community, you have a better investment, and you have a better lifestyle.

• Work force housing is defined as being for people making between 100% and 120% of AMI (Area Median Income).
• The AMI for Collier is $104,300; Lee is $88,800 and Charlotte is $77,900.

There are significant benefits that result from a concerted attempt to implement such forms of housing as has occurred in many other municipalities in North America.  We have yet to see any tangible plans to implement this action in Estero.

Some of the benefits Carmen outlined are:

• Introduction of multi-family housing will increase revenues for restaurants, retailers, and entertainment venues.
• Likely to reduce VMT.
• Capitalizes on existing parking.
• Will be 277 Units.
• Provides opportunities for tenants to live, work and play at the same site.
• A significant reduction in workers leaving their employment.

One example of converting a commercial property for dwellings that will include workforce homes is at Alta Resources in Fort Myers. This former commercial property on 10.2 acres, built in 1997, will become 256 multifamily units. In Estero, developers should be encouraged to assign smaller but well-styled apartments or homes for this purpose to enable the price of purchase or rent to be reduced.

There was a lively interchange of questions from the audience. These will be reviewed separately. If anyone has additional points, they would like Engage Estero to pass on to our panel, please email Allan Bowditch at engageesterocco@gmail.com.

Photo Credit: roundabout – FDOT