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MPO citizen advisors express SR 31 concerns

By CHUCK BALLARO - | May 7, 2021

With the expected building boom coming in Babcock Ranch, the only major road to get to it will need to be dramatically improved.

However, the Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Citizen Advisory Committee expressed some concerns about how the State Road 31 project has been presented and what it could end up being, especially since utilities will have to be installed.

Thursday’s meeting in Cape Coral devoted significant time to a presentation on the expansion of State Road 31 from Route 80 to Cook Brown Road in Charlotte County.

The road will be expanded to four, and eventually six lanes. There will also be traffic lights and high-speed traffic circles installed to improve the flow of traffic.

As presented, the road will have vegetation along the sides and medians, something that some on the committee were dubious about, akin to an unintentional bait-and-switch.

“The diagrams were beautiful with the trees and 11 feet space between the curb. Without them, the trees would need 16 feet between them and the edge of the road,” said Al O’Donnell, committee member. “But they need to have utility easements with water and sewer lines and they tell you that you can’t plant on top of utilities and your beautiful diagram goes away.”

O’Donnell said the design is unbelievable and much better than other roads he has seen from a beautification standpoint, but added what he has seen in the past makes those beautification offerings questionable.

Rick Anglickis, board member, said that with 50,000 new residents coming to Babcock Ranch, the need to expand SR 31 is a no-brainer as was the expansion of SR 82 was needed in Lehigh Acres.

“It took 60 years for SR 82 to expand from two to four lanes, but we may be 50 years ahead of time with 31,” Anglickis said. “Any time you change the lanage on a road, you’re going to have people worried about snail dodgers and others worried about transportation issues.

Anglickis said with all the space around 31, few neighbors will be disturbed and the environmental impacts will be minimal. Improvements will be put in before traffic capacity becomes and issue.

The road expansion has been in the works for years. On March 5, dozens of people turned out for a public meeting at the Lee Civic Center in North Fort Myers where they expressed concerns that expansion could have a serious impact on the one main landowner, Mike Greenwell, who owns acreage on the east side of the road by possibly forcing him to close down one or more of his businesses.

On the west side, the project could result in the installation of unwanted underground infrastructure and exacerbate what is already a serious problem regarding flooding, residents attending the session said.