About 30 people turned out in North Fort Myers Tuesday evening to learn about transportation plans in Lee County over the next 25 years.   

The Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Lee County has identified 59 projects that will cost up to $4 billion to complete by the year 2050.

People came to the North Fort Myers Public Library to look at maps of the road needs. They also viewed documents showing the projects and timelines, and talked with MPO staff members.

The MPO said the most urgent need is extending Alico Road to join up with State Road 82. That is designed to ease some of the weekday congestion heading south from Lehigh Acres in the mornings, and back again in the afternoons and evenings.

Another top priority: improving the flow of vehicles on Colonial in Fort Myers on the east side of the Midpoint bridge, and in Cape Coral on the west side.

Don Scott is director of the Lee MPO, and he said that funding for the various projects gives him concern.

"I will say — a little less optimistic than I have been in the past, because revenue estimates are down," Scott said. "And you throw in things like EV's (electric vehicles), and more fuel-efficient vehicles, and the gas taxes, which have been the major funders of the roads, it's going to start to flatten out."    

Some needs, such as those in the fast-growing northeast corner of Lee County, may not be met.     Traffic already is heavy on Bayshore Road, and some residents said, Bayshore can become badly clogged during visitor season.

Resident Steve Brodkin said people need help now, not decades into the future.

"It's upsetting," he said. "We spend so much time sitting in our cars, going nowhere."    

The MPO said citizen feedback will help to dictate  funding and timelines.   The planning group's  board of directors is supposed to give final approval to the 25-year-long plans in December.   

Mike Walcher is a reporter with WGCU News. He also teaches Journalism at Florida Gulf Coast University.