Marco Island residents, learn to love the Judge S.S. Jolley Bridge.

It is likely not going anywhere anytime soon, particularly if tolls are out of the question.

And if recent focus groups conducted by a consultant to the Collier County Metropolitan Planning Organization revealed anything, it is that in the minds of Marco Island residents, tolls are most definitely out of the question.

In early February, Chris Swenson, of CRSPE, Inc., conducted three focus groups among working residents, retired residents and business owners on the island. Among the insights he received, Swenson said one of the most resounding was the opposition of participants to a toll on the bridge.

“It was almost a unanimous opinion that the state of Florida, since they are the owner, should be the one paying for the bridge,” Swenson said. “It wasn’t a completely unanimous voice, but it was certainly an overwhelming voice.”

CRSPE will conduct a follow-up survey by telephone, Swenson said, and will include questions that reflect the concerns of the focus group participants. Residents can expect the survey to take place sometime in the next week or two, but Swenson said people were also invited to take the survey online at JolleyBridge.com. The survey is not available yet but will be as soon as the phone survey gets underway.

Swenson said the participants were some of the most involved and vocal he had ever worked with, yielding a clear vision of what at least a small cross section desires for the bridge.

“In general, people don’t perceive that congestion is a major problem,” he said. “To them, it’s more of an annoyance than a problem. Two out of three preferred keeping two lanes rather than a four-lane bridge, even without considering the cost.”

Reaction to the bridge’s ease of use ranged from feelings of concern over the narrow lanes during an accident to some who responded along the lines of, “I’ve been stuck in traffic jams for hours on the Long Island Expressway. There is no problem.”

On a whole, most agreed that traffic tie-ups are an annoyance, but not a pressing concern. However, MPO models show the flow of traffic increasing 1.7 percent per year over the next seven years, eventually leading to longer and longer delays, even during the off-season.

The group made up of employed residents was mostly in favor of graduating to a four-lane structure, while the other two groups favored two lanes because the current bridge helps regulate the speed of traffic entering the island.

“The speed of traffic coming onto the island is going to be highly intensified if it’s four lanes,” said one participant.

But then again, responded another, the result could be more traffic tickets and lower taxes for those who obey the limit.

Some were more open to the idea of a three-lane bridge, allowing emergency vehicles a lane for easy passage or a contingency lane in the event of an accident or maintenance work.

The Collier County MPO projects that with the current funding plan, construction may start in 2026, but MPO Director Philip Tindall said it all depends on funding. Some projections point to a date after 2030 for a new bridge.

“There are so many different factors,” Tindall said. “The earlier date could be, but it could just depend on funding. Yes, it’s been very high on our list of priorities for a long time, but does it necessarily mean it’s going to stay that way?”

The Jolley Bridge was constructed in 1969, and its most recent structural review by the Florida Department of Transportation earned a score of 81, on a scale of 1 to 100. The general threshold for bridges to receive consideration for replacement or major repair is a 50.

The Goodland Bridge, the island’s only other link to the mainland, earned a score of 45. However, the Goodland Bridge only supports about 2,500 vehicles on an average weekday during March, according to a Cambridge Systematics study conducted for the MPO in 2007. The Jolley Bridge sees more like 32,500 vehicles a day during the same month.

Expectations are for a steady increase in traffic across the bridge through 2030, particularly as development to the north of Marco Island continues. A new bridge design completed by the FDOT in 2005 calls for a four-lane bridge, to be built in two separate two-lane segments. The first span would be built alongside the Jolley Bridge, completed in order to sustain traffic while the Jolley Bridge is demolished and a new two-lane span is completed.

Estimates call for a more than $45 million budget in today’s dollars.

On the other hand, maintenance bills are expected to escalate as the bridge ages over the next 20 years. A November 2007 MPO report projected that nearly $600,000 a year would be spent to keep the bridge in its current condition for the next 20 years, not taking inflation into account.

With the focus groups complete, the MPO will await a final report from CRSPE after the phone survey is finished. After the report goes through several of the organization’s advisory committees, it will appear before the MPO board June 13 before it receives final approval. After that, the next stop is with the FDOT liaison in Fort Myers.

“Since this is a consultant’s report, it’s basically the consultant’s recommendations,” Tindall said.

It will not stand as an official document, but simply as one take on what Marco Island’s residents want. Still, the resistance to tolls is not something the state would take lightly, Tindall predicted.

“I don’t think the state is in a position right now to be mandating tolls,” he said.

Generally, Tindall said, tolls are initiated and adopted by a local or county government, but not imposed on a municipality by a higher authority.

“I think the funding situation, which is pretty bad, would have to get worse for that to happen,” he said. “It would be pretty heavy-handed to mandate a toll.”

Complete videos of all three focus groups can be viewed at JolleyBridge.com. The survey conducted by CRSPE will also be available at that web site within the next two weeks.

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