FORT MYERS, Fla. — Fort Myers City Council members told Fox 4 a new ordinance limiting truck traffic on McGregor Boulevard would help with traffic and safety.
Your Fort Myers community correspondent Miyoshi Price has seen the bumper-to-bumper traffic coming from the Caloosahatchee Bridge onto McGregor, so she knew exactly where to go to find frustrated people.
Watch Fort Myers Community Correspondent Miyoshi Price's report:
"It's hectic along here with all the commercial traffic," says Steve Braden, a Mcgregor neighborhood resident.
Steven Braden says he rides his bike on McGregor daily, and the traffic can sometimes get scary. He continues by saying it is not a big concern, nor does it impact him, but he sees it when riding with his wife.
"She's less comfortable with all the hustle," Braden said.
Price saw that hustle and bustle firsthand when she checked out several McGregor intersections on Monday.
That's where she met Ben Burkert, who told her he always walks his dog on McGregor, so he sees the traffic back-ups.
"You have garbage trucks that are picking up garbage cans along the way," he said. "Another semi-truck comes by all of a sudden; that semi-truck can't get past the garbage truck in the same way, and then you get traffic lock-ups."
But traffic isn't his only concern.
"Well, my main issue is noise," he said talking about the early morning and even the late night truck noise disturbing his peace when he's inside his home. "They're just incredibly loud, and they roll very quickly down McGregor."
In Monday's council workshop, Fort Myers Police Chief Jason Fields told city council members that department research shows big trucks often cut through McGregor, instead of using roads like SR-82 or US-41.
That's why the council is considering an ordinance banning those trucks from using McGregor.
Here's what Chief Jason Fields said about enforcing it.
"We would have to follow a truck from either the north end of the south end all the way through, and once they complete that, then we can conduct a traffic stop or education," he explained.
He further discussed the number of construction sites that used heavy trucks for various materials. He gave an example of a site south of the city off of McGregor.
"It's a new community being built," says Fields. "And obviously, with any new community, there's going to be trucks that deliver, whether it's sand to raise or dirt to raise the elevation or equipment material, and that's where this location is. We reached out to the contractor and the job site to figure out, because we noticed that a lot of trucks were on McGregor. And we did identify that this trucking company was providing equipment to this site and we did speak to them so they did have direction from the main company to take an alternate route."
The ordinance would allow trucks to make drop-offs to businesses along the road, but it would not allow them to go through traffic.
"It means no heavy dump trucks, no semis," says Councilman Liston Bochette. "It's a residential neighborhood. It doesn't mean that you don't get Amazon deliveries in your yard. Those trucks are all allowable."
The council says an ordinance could be in effect by next week.
