FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    Scott Gilbertson or Dave Loveland, Lee County Department of Transportation
                (941) 479-8580

FORT MYERS, Fla. (February 9, 2001) – Lee County Commissioners are expected to approve an interlocal agreement with the City of Fort Myers Tuesday (Feb. 13) to share in the cost of designing the extension of Palmetto Avenue – a project that, when complete, will provide a much-needed north-south road corridor through Fort Myers.

Palmetto Avenue is completed from State Road 82 (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) north to the Caloosahatchee River, but has three gaps from S.R. 82 south to Colonial Boulevard. It isn’t built between S.R. 82 and Edison Avenue; it is only half-built between Edison and Canal Street; and it doesn’t connect across the North Colonial Waterway. In addition, it is an unimproved dirt road south of Hanson Street to the North Colonial Waterway.

The City and County have agreed to evenly split the costs of designing the connections that will fill in the gaps, making the road a two-lane corridor running from Colonial to S.R. 80 with the ability to eventually expand to four lanes. The design cost is estimated at $720,000. The extension crosses through portions of unincorporated Lee County and the City, and would provide an additional north-south corridor relieving State Road 739 (Metro/Fowler/Evans), U.S. 41 and Interstate 75. It also would open up urban infill lands for development and create jobs that would benefit the Dunbar Enterprise Zone. And, it would improve access to the new Dunbar High School on Edison Avenue and help meet school desegregation commitments by the City.

The City will manage the design phase and use Johnson Engineering as the engineer. Subsequent interlocal agreements are expected on the right-of-way acquisition and construction phases.

Right-of-way acquisition and construction will be funded jointly by the City and County through a combination of, hopefully, grants, impact fees and gas taxes. The right-of-way phase (initially estimated at $2.1 million) is expected to take place in Fiscal Year 2001-02 and construction (estimated at $6.1 million) would be during Fiscal Year 2002-03. The City and County fiscal years run from October 1 through September 30.