Chamber supports Coconut Road interchange

Just because Lee County leaders twice voted down a proposal to study an Interstate 75 interchange at Coconut Road doesn’t mean the issue is dead.

In fact, its defeat might have sparked more support from Bonita Springs residents who believe the Estero interchange will alleviate traffic on Bonita Beach Road.

More than 1,300 businesses in Southwest Florida now stand behind the issue through a recent endorsement by the Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce.

In the Chamber’s February newsletter, a front-page article criticizes the Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization for voting down the intersection.

The Chamber is developing a strategy to persuade the MPO to reverse its decision not to study the interchange. The MPO is made of elected members from Lee County and cities within its borders.

The Chamber decided to take a stand on the issue because gridlock on Bonita Beach Road is bad for area businesses, said John Spear, chairman of the Chamber’s transportation task force and author of the newsletter article.

At Chamber functions, business owners frequently talk about how difficult it is to get employees to work in Bonita because of the traffic, Spear said.

“I don’t think gridlock is good for anybody,” he said. “It’s bad for businesses, bad for customers, bad for retired people, bad for working people.”

The Chamber’s strategy includes writing letters to the editor, contacting MPO members and other elected officials who can influence MPO members and energizing the Bonita Springs community, Spear said.

“The idea that the interchange won’t be necessary for the next two or three decades is absurd,” Spear said.

The planning organization voted in September and then again in November not to put the interchange in its 2030 Transportation Plan. If a project is not in the county’s long-range plan, it has virtually no chance of being built.

To reverse the decision, someone in the majority on the MPO board must be willing to reconsider it. In other words, those who supported the interchange and lost cannot raise the issue.

Lee County Commissioner John Albion, one of five members to vote for the interchange, tried to convince others that accepting $10 million in federal funding only means that officials will study the interchange.

He said Tuesday he is not sure if the nine members who voted against it would change their minds if the issue is brought up again.

Those who voted against accepting the $10 million said federal money should not dictate where the county builds roads. The interchange was not in the county’s long-range plans and opponents were skeptical about how funding for the project found its way into the federal transportation bill.

Estero leaders also are lobbying hard against accepting the money for the interchange, saying the interchange would be too close to the existing Corkscrew Road interchange, that the new intersection would not significantly alleviate traffic problems and that it would bring too much noise and traffic to Coconut Road.

Don Eslick, chairman of the Estero Council of Community Leaders, said he’s not surprised the issue isn’t dying.

“It’s clear the people promoting this are heavy hitters around here,” Eslick said.

Eslick said the area needs a federal study that doesn’t focus exclusively on Coconut Road and instead looks at the most logical place for an interchange between Bonita Beach Road and Corkscrew.

Those in favor of the interchange said the issue has resonated deeply with Bonita Springs residents, who see the interchange as significantly reducing traffic through that city.

“I don’t know if some of the MPO members understand the depth of importance this has to Bonita Springs,” Albion said. “If the temperature rises and begins to show the depth of feeling, maybe there would be thoughts out there for people to reconsider their positions.”

In the recent $286 billion federal transportation bill, government officials earmarked $10 million for the county to study the interchange.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, recently wrote a letter to MPO officials stating that the money must be used to study the interchange and could not be diverted to any other projects.

Along with the chamber, the City of Bonita Springs is also keeping the pressure on the MPO to reverse its decision.

The city recently commissioned a second study to look into how the Coconut Road interchange could alleviate some of Bonita Beach Road’s traffic problems. That study should be released within the week.

However, city officials are worried that pressuring the MPO too hard could be counterproductive, said councilman Ben Nelson, who also sits on the planning organization.

“I’ve been telling (Mayor) Jay (Arend) and (city manager) Gary (Price) that if we push real hard on this, people will resist,” Nelson said. “Even though you’ve got good information you don’t want to push too hard. All we’re trying to do is present this information and say, ‘Take a look at this.’ We’re trying not to beat anyone up with this stuff.”

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Staff writer Tom Hanson contributed to this story.