Plans to widen Interstate 75 from Golden Gate Parkway in Collier County to Alico Road in Lee County were explained Monday at Estero Community Park.
The wider I-75 will have express lanes and auxiliary lanes — but it won’t have a sound barrier in Estero — and that absence is one that is making some residents none too happy.
Nearly 200 people received a glimpse of the $578 million project on Monday at the Estero Recreation Center. Collier County receives the roadshow on Tuesday from 4-6 p.m. in the Exhibit Hall Room A at North Collier Regional Park.
The widening will include two express lanes (pay lanes) from Golden Gate Parkway and then one lane short of Alico, said Brian Bollas, interstate community outreach manager for the Florida Department of Transportation. Auxiliary lanes will extend the entire length of the widening. The auxiliary lanes extend from exit ramp to exit ramp so drivers going a short distance don’t need to enter the main flow of traffic.
A large contingent attending were from the Brooks in Estero. A portion of the community fronts the interstate. The community doesn’t meet the federal and state standards for a wall, Bollas said.
A noise wall must minimize the noise by at least five decibels, and the cost of the noise barriers should not exceed $64,000 per property that results in a noise reduction of at least five decibels.
Bill and Judy Starr, who live in the Brooks, are familiar with the I-75 traffic.
“The noise already is not good at certain times of day with heavy traffic,” Bill Starr said. “And so just increased traffic and congestion will only make it worse.”
Judy Starr said a homeowner sold their home not because of the proposed expansion but because of the noise from traffic now.
Terri Jenstad lives in Copperleaf in the Brooks and is a Realtor who sells homes in the Brooks.
She said she has a $1.45 million home listed that backs up to I-75. She’s been told it already would be under contract if it wasn’t for the road noise.
“I’ve got a buyer for it,” she said, “and they wanted to see the outcome of this meeting to see if it showed we were going to get the sound walls, and it shows that we are not.”
Larry Conroy was there as a resident of Tidewater, a Del Webb community that backs up to I-75 to the east and then south of the Estero Parkway bridge.
“First off, we were surprised,” he said. “We just learned two weeks ago that they were going to extend north of Corkscrew. So, we had almost no time to really understand what the heck’s going on.”
No sound barrier is planned for Tidewater as well because the decibel levels don’t meet the criteria, he said.
The Starrs, Conroy and Jenstad filled out public comment sheets with their complaints.
Bill Starr said the community needs to continue to lobby. Conroy, on his sheet, asked the state to visit his neighborhood and take data instead of using models to arrive at decibel levels.
“I’ve written my comments and I’m going to share them with FDOT, and the city of Estero is backing us up, so hopefully, we’ll end up getting them,” Jenstad said. “But I’m going to write a letter to Gov. DeSantis and all the higher ups because it’s going to kill our neighborhood.”
WHAT’S NEXT
TUESDAY/Sept. 1/Collier meeting
- FDOT Public Input Meetings on I-75 Widening
- 4-6 p.m. at North Collier Regional Park, Exhibit A, 15000 Livingston Road
Wednesday/Sept. 2/Virtual Information Session
- 6 – 7 p.m.
- Click to join: https://bit.ly/I-75GGtoAlico
- View project materials, noise wall information, and submit questions to the project team
Officials will return to Southwest Florida in October or later in the year for a public hearing.
Pre-construction information will come next.
No date has been set for construction
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