The bad news first. Island residents still can’t expect Collier Boulevard to be a clean, straight shot south until sometime in December. However, a few annoyances are expected to clear up in the coming weeks.

Photo by LESLIE WILLIAMS HALE

Eagle staff

Traffic slows on Collier Boulevard as cars approach the intersection with Bald Eagle Drive. Construction on the northbound lanes (at right) is expected to wrap up in eight weeks, when traffic will be rerouted for crews to start work on the southbound lanes. The whole project is on schedule for completion in December.

The portion of North Collier that runs south of the Smokehouse Bay bridge should be fully open within about a month and a half, liberating the traffic that has had to creep through on two lanes for months.

Public Works Director Rony Joel said all four lanes between Amazon Court and San Marco Road are set to receive a final overlay by the second week in August. Just a few weeks after that, the stretch from Amazon to the Smokehouse Bay bridge should be done.

However, the stretch of road from the bridge north to West Elkcam Circle is another story. Joel said the headaches there will not be put to rest until December, the project’s scheduled end-date.

Construction crews are currently working on the northbound side of Collier Boulevard, which has led to street closings and detours for many roads just east of Collier.

Photo by LESLIE WILLIAMS HALE

Eagle staff

Look familiar? The orange and white barricades dotting Collier Boulevard should start to thin out in a few weeks as construction wraps up on the corridor south of the Smokehouse Bay bridge.

Joel said he expects the northbound lanes to be complete in eight weeks, at which point traffic in both directions will be rerouted to allow road crews to re-pave the southbound lanes.

Those roads to the east of Collier will again be accessible, though some of the roads to the west will fall prey to the same closings once work begins on the southbound lanes.

What is perhaps the most vexing source of tie-ups and slow-downs will be one of the last to be fully resolved: the intersection of North Collier and Bald Eagle. Joel said residents can expect the intersection to remain a four-way stop until December.

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