Editorial: Road widening

It is no secret that U.S. 41 through Estero, like the other sections north and south of it, needs widening.

As costs continue to climb, Lee County and Florida Department of Transportation officials look for ways to be efficient and creative — even to the point of partnering with each other and the private sector to build and finance it.

It cannot wait for 2010 — the state’s original schedule. Mirroring Interstate 75, it needed to be done five years ago.

Only one idea that we’ve heard so far does not belong on the table. That is, using land purchased and protected by Lee County’s greenspace tax as a receptacle for roadside drainage.

This goes against the grain of what voters bought into a decade ago, in 1996. They wanted land set aside from growth, not used to accommodate more.

Rarely do we hear the goals and philosophies of Lee’s greenspace tax being challenged to this extent. That is one of the secrets of the Lee County program’s marvelous success. Everybody is aboard and it is kept simple.

Road planners and all those who want to see this road project accomplished ought to go back to the drawing board. There has to be a better way.