Safety of local bridges called into question
Carlos Cabrera, left, with the Collier County Metropolitan Planning Organization, hands out surveys to drivers along Collier Boulevard in Marco Island on Thursday, August 2, 2007, concerning pending improvements for the SS Jolley Bridge. The bridge was built in 1969 with a 50-year lifespan and estimation of handling 10,000 vehicles a day. In the most recent traffic statistics, the bridge averages 25,000 vehicles per day.
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Traffic streams across the S.S. Jolley Bridge onto Marco Island on Thursday. In February, Collier County commissioners authorized a consulting firm to spend up to $1 million on a study that will examine the feasibility of a toll to speed construction of a new bridge. Without an alternative to government funding, the most optimistic estimate is that a new bridge cannot be built until 2025.
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