A proposed trolley lane from Summerlin Square to Estero Island drove many ideas, concerns and insights from several concerned citizens of Fort Myers Beach and San Carlos Island at a workshop held at town hall on Thursday, Feb. 25. Those in attendance were along for the ride by listening carefully to a panel of nine traffic experts and assigned officials before participating in public comment regarding the subject.

FMB Councilman Bob Raymond chaired the the fact-finding discussion which is in the initial stages of finding a solution to easing the pressure of a bottleneck traffic congestion -now and in the future- on the state road which leads to the popular Beach destination. The panel consisted of Boardwalk Capers representative Ron Kollmeyer; Lee County Department of Transportation's David Loveland; FMB Chamber of Commerce's John Albion; San Carlos Island Redevelopment Corporation's Joanne Semmer; LeeTran's Steve Myers; Florida DOT's Johnny Limbaugh; FMB Fire Control District's Darren White; and Lee County Sheriff Department's Matt Leclair.

The 1 1/2-hour meeting centered on the probability of installing a permanent or express lane in the middle of the five designated lanes on San Carlos Boulevard. Debate ranged from not eliminating the current turn lane to allowing both trolley and turn lane access to installing a traffic light by Siesta Isles to safety issues if a sixth lane was to be added and the other lanes' width reduced.

"Currently, there's about 66 feet of pavement width-wise on San Carlos Boulevard," said Chris Swenson, a civil engineer and National Service leader at Wilbur Smith Associate . "For five lanes, that's a lot of pavement. Normally a five-lane section would take up about 60 feet."

Myers, who is the transit director for the trolley system, stated there is a need for the permanent lane during "season" and offered numbers as well as study and analysis findings to cement his beliefs. A current study by LeeTran and Wilbur Smith Associates, which is expected to be completed within the next 60 days, is expected to provide several alternatives designs for a trolley lane on the Beach approaching road.

"A LeeTran preliminary study that we did several years ago suggests that the approach to the Matanzas Pass Bridge could be widened to allow trolleys to access the bridge trolley lane from San Carlos Boulevard without reentering mixed traffic," he said. "To qualify for Federal funding, LeeTran is required to complete a full environmental analysis of the project. That analysis would develop a full set of alternatives and, after community and stake-holder input, then would result in a selection of a preferred alternative for implementation."

Although many agreed the feasibility of the pro-trolley lane experts, there were those who were adamantly opposed to the recommendations if the turning/merging lane in the middle of San Carlos Boulevard was eliminated. Semmer, a San Carlos Island resident and business operator, wrote a letter giving full detail about the opposition (check the Opinion Page in this issue) and Tony Agin of Capt. Tony's Fishing Adventures shed a different light on the merging situation from his business.

"We are worried about entrance and exit from the property," said Agin. "When traffic backs up in both lanes, we have to inch our way across the two lanes as people stop and let us through. We can't merge with the traffic coming off the Beach which is doing 40-45 (miles per hour). We have to use the center lane to pull out and speed up to merge into the traffic. People coming northbound on San Carlos Boulevard who want to enter our property have to use the center lane. If they were to stop in traffic with their turning signal on with someone coming behind them at 45 miles per hour, you can see where that would be a big problem."

The viewpoint of a Boardwalk Caper condominium owner was from a different perspective. He believed the problem wasn't getting people on the Beach, but involved the traffic leaving the Beach.

The civilized debate brought out issues and concerns that Raymond wished would be revealed.

"This (workshop) is doing exactly today what I had hoped it would do," he said. "We're starting to break the ice of what people think. It's unbelievable how many great ideas people have if you can get them together to talk. This is a start. If you lived here 10 to 15 years ago, you probably couldn't imagine what we have here today. We need to be looking at (traffic solutions) before (it gets worse) in the next 10 to 15 years from now."

Now that the initial talks are over, the esteemed experts and representatives will meet again once the LeeTran/Wilbur Smith Associates study is complete with findings.

Other panelist and expert points of note:

Limbaugh - Florida DOT: "We are keeping an open mind on this to try to come up with a balanced approach to the traffic situation. We realize we can't expand the footprint anymore without affecting the mangroves on one side and the condos on the other. Safety will be the ultimate decision point on this. If we can accomplish that and provide a trolley lane, then we would be foolish not to examine it and give it some additional research."

Albion - FMB Chamber: "This is certainly a necessary and bold step. As far as the businesses along the route, the chamber of commerce is going to be concerned about the access -the ingress and egress- onto this roadway. It does beg the question if this is going to be an express trolley lane versus one that is going to be a sole trolley lane that will be able to stop along the way. Right now, tourism is the only real viable economic engine of Lee County. If we're seeing this many people right now during a downturn in the economy, as things get better there will be a lot more people coming to this area trying to get to Fort Myers Beach."

Tom Myers - Chamber Traffic Committee Chairman: "The chamber traffic committee has been in existence longer than the town (incorporation) and many people who have lived on the island right now. I hope we can work together and work this out. Let's all put our heads together. This is a start in the right direction."

Ron Kollmeyer - Representative of Boardwalk Caper: "The common problem that we see is making a left or right turn and crossing multiple driving lanes. A lot of our people have suggested traffic lights, but the problem is that a traffic light has to have a lane to accumulate traffic. The six lane idea certainly has some merit. Why not consider creating six lanes at those traffic lights after you've installed them? Perhaps the state and the Federal Government would go along with that kind of reduction in the utilization of the road."

Loveland - Lee County DOT: "The Metropolitan Planning Organization is in the process of doing a plan update right now. It has to be done by December, and it's a critical component in terms of a flow of state and Federal transportation dollars. The five lane section that we have out there is probably as many road lane ways that we are ever going to have. We've looked at a lot of alternatives for traffic to and from the Beach. We've talked about bridges, but none are really feasible at this point. Balancing the different interests and the different needs while maintaining safety and everything else is going to be a key. I think getting this whole issue into the MPO plan update process is really the critical next step."

Leclair - Captain of Sheriff's West District: "Safety and response time will be the only things that we want to have taken into consideration."

White - Assistant Chief of FMB Fire: "Public safety is our No. 1 concern as well as our vehicles getting on and off the boulevard."

Facebook  MySpace  Digg  Stumble    Mixx  Fark  del.icio.us   LiveSpaces

Member Comments

View Comments: | Post a comment

No comments posted for this article.

You must first login before you can comment.