Letter: Please rethink

Collier County transportation official Jay Ahmad’s position on the safety of removing median access to our neighborhood without first installing a traffic light at 68th Street Southwest is unreasonable.

Ahmad states in a May 10 Daily News story that turning left onto 70th Street Southwest from the median is “very unsafe,” yet this is the same road across which he asks us to make unprotected U-turns.

He states that the traffic volume at 68th Street is insufficient to justify a traffic light, but a traffic light that only triggered when traffic queued up would have minimal effect on Golden Gate Parkway while protecting U-turners.

Finally, for the many residents who keep boats and RVs on their lots an unprotected U-turn would prove even more dangerous.

I realize we must learn to adapt to the explosive growth in Collier County as more people learn of the paradise that is our backyard. Nonetheless, by removing our median access and forcing the neighborhood to make unprotected U-turns, the transportation department and the county commissioners will create a very unsafe situation. It is only a matter of time until there is a fatality due to this decision, with lawsuits against the county and the commissioners sure to follow.

I ask Ahmad to reconsider the installation of a traffic light prior to removing our median access. This would best serve and protect not only our neighborhood, but the traveling public as well.

Dan Carter/Golden Gate Estates