FORT MYERS, Fla. — With more people packing into Southwest Florida for a slice of paradise, more traffic is expected. The City of Fort Myers is looking at ways to ease congestion in some areas, like Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard between Colonial and Winkler.
The city is trying to figure out how to tackle traffic concerns on heavily used roads. On the Veronica Shoemaker corridor, there's one apartment complex and a gated community in the works, along with other commercial buildings.
On Monday, City Council members discussed potentially placing traffic calming devices, which can be anything from a speed bump, traffic lights or even removing medians.
This stretch of road cannot have a speed bump because of the 45 mph speed limit, so more traffic lights are on the table. Public Works Director Richard Moulton says this would stop people from making a U-turn at a median and forcing them to go to the next traffic light.
"That would decrease the instances where cars are going in directions that could cause them from going into ongoing traffic," Moulton said. "There are three median openings that the study recommends that we still consider closing."
He says they've received a lot of feedback from the community about the traffic in the area already, even without the housing units up.
Developers building in the area have to submit traffic impact studies, which explains if traffic lights are also recommended due to the growth brought on by the development.
These are only recommendations at the moment. There's a plan to have a workshop to take a deeper dive into the traffic issues, though a date has not yet been set.
