Beach trolley/bike lane needs protective railing
Fort Myers Beach Councilman Bob Raymond may have saved the “temporary” trolley lane on Matanzas Pass Bridge with a motion he made at the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s monthly meeting at the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council Friday.
Raymond, who was elected as 2010 vice chairman of the Lee County MPO at the meeting, motioned to move the needed-or-else Beach bridge pedestrian railing issue to a higher order on the MPO’s approved production ready project list enabling the project to be next in line to receive funds. The Florida Department of Transportation has considered ‘removing’ the FMB bridge trolley lane if a pedestrian safety rail is not installed along the lane.
“Personnally, I think public transportation is the only thing that will help if not solve the Beach traffic congestion problem,” Raymond said. “We have to have (the trolley lane),” said Raymond. “It really helps traffic congestion. Four or five years ago, the trolley lane was added to the bridge. It took 50,000 cars off Estero Boulevard during season. It also saves the people traveling to the Beach a heck of a lot of time. Either we get the railing up or they will be re-striping the bridge without a trolley lane.”
Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah, who was elected to the chairman post for the Lee County MPO, seconded Raymond’s motion. The motion carried unanimously.
“Florida DOT is pressing the issue from a safety standpoint requiring the construction of a barrier rail,” he said. “If it looks like that’s imminent, we should make sure we retain that trolley lane.”
Lee County MPO spokeswoman Debbie Tower says the Beach trolley lane was temporarily added during a “testing concept period.” The lane, which was installed in 2005, needed approval from Florida DOT because Matanzas Bridge and the existing roadway is state owned and operated.
“We allowed some temporary variances like the roadway striping so that the trolley could use the shoulder,” said Tower. “The Town of Fort Myers Beach, Lee County DOT and LeeTran are very supported of the trolley program. It has demonstrated its value, and everybody would like to see it continue its operation. However, we have reached the point where we are beyond the testing period. The issue is one of safety and bringing that railing to current design standards.”
The pedestrian safety railing, an added few feet of protection on the concrete barrier, would be installed on the west-side travelling lane, says Tower. The lane would be sharing the shoulder with bicyclists.
“If we are looking at this kind of program and operation to become permanent, it’s time now to put in place something that allows it to serve the community as it should meaning safety first,” she said.
This has been a state-wide crackdown for more than a year by the Florida DOT.
At the MPO meeting, the cost of installing the safety rail was estimated to be in the $250,000 range. This cost, which is expected to come from government stimulus money possibly as early as next month, includes the engineering, designing, installation and building of it.
Keeping the Beach trolley lane is not the only issue on the Beach councilman’s plate. Raymond would like to see a trolley lane from Summerlin Square to Estero Boulevard.
“We are going to continue pushing to get a separate trolley lane from Summerlin all the way onto the Beach,” he said. “If you look at San Carlos Boulevard right now, there are five lanes there. We should have one of those lanes as a trolley lane.”
Raymond asked a hypothetical question to make his point more clear: “If you asked someone in season if they had a choice of waiting two hours in line from Summerlin to the Beach or take the trolley and be there in 10 minutes, I think people would choose the trolley and we would keep even more cars off the road.”
Raymond is also pushing for trolley service to make airport runs to Fort Myers Beach.
“We’re trying to get a trolley to go to the airport and back at least through season,” he said. “I think that’s important to our town. We also have a very good possibility to get the trolley extended to 11:30 p.m. on the Beach so that people will have a little better service.”