County considers Corkscrew Road light

At the request of those organizations, the Lee County Department of Transportation is studying the corner of Corkscrew Road and Fire House Lane to see if a traffic signal makes sense there.

Fire trucks stationed at the Estero Fire District's 9-month-old Stoneybrook Station get onto Corkscrew via Fire House Lane. Pinewoods Elementary School's 19 buses do the same. Along with residential traffic they've got to watch for when they pull out onto Corkscrew, firefighters and bus drivers must be vigilant for the many dump trucks that travel to and from mines at Corkscrew's eastern end.

"We haven't had an accident there. We've been fortunate as far as that goes," said Neal Noethlich, chairman of the Corkscrew Road Area Advisory Committee. The committee represents a taxing district made up of major Corkscrew Road property owners who pay for road improvements.

Dick Schweers, chairman of the Estero Fire Board, said a signal is a matter of safety.

"It's safety for the firefighters and safety for the public," he said. "Getting out onto the road now is scary."

Schweers added that fire trucks en route to emergencies need to access Corkscrew not only safely, but quickly as well. The district's goal is to reach 90 percent of all calls within four minutes. Heavy traffic can hurt response times.

School buses haven't had trouble getting onto Corkscrew, said Pinewoods Elementary School Principal Elizabeth Kasko. A traffic signal on Corkscrew less than half a mile west of the Fire House Lane intersection in front of Pinewoods' main entrance helps provide the breaks in traffic bus drivers need to turn onto Corkscrew.

"We didn't initiate the request for another signal, but it isn't something we object to," she said. "We got a lot of relief when we got the other light in front of the school. It has been a tremendous help."

As head of the county's traffic engineering division, it's up to John Davis to decide whether the proposed signal is warranted. Davis said he'll be talking to Estero Fire Department representatives and collecting traffic counts and a 3-year accident history over the next couple of weeks to help him make a determination.

"I need to talk to the people with the fire department and find out what their experience has been trying to make that turn," he said.

Davis said the county evaluates intersections carefully before agreeing to a signal.

"You can see an increase in rear-end accidents," he said. "It's not a situation where putting in a signal is always the right answer."

Davis said one option may be to install a flashing yellow signal that would turn to a solid yellow followed by a solid red when fire trucks are responding to an emergency.

He also said there's the matter of funding to figure out. Traffic signals cost anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000. While the school buses use the intersection, the Lee County School District is not among those lobbying for the signal. Its cost likely would be shared between the Corkscrew Road taxing district and the fire department, Davis said.

"Those are all the details that have to be worked out," he said.

(Contact Staff Writer Karie Partington at 213-6065 or kjpartington@naplesnews.com )