![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/sr82_sign_03_03.png\" "\\"sr82_sign_03_03\\"")
Bike safety advocates in Lee County have launched a last-minute effort to persuade FDOT to change its plans for bike lanes when SR 82 is rebuilt. They want new bike paths to be separated from the planned 6-lane highway<\/p>\nBike safety advocates in Lee County have launched a last-minute effort to persuade FDOT to change its plans for bike lanes when SR 82 is rebuilt. They want new bike paths to be separated from the planned 6-lane highway<\/p>\n
Rebuilding an unsafe stretch of\u00a0State Road 82 through\u00a0eastern Lee County will begin soon, but\u00a0a call is being made to change the plans to take\u00a0bicycle lanes\u00a0off the roadway and place them in a separate, safer\u00a0bike path along the route.<\/p>\n
The design for making SR 82 a divided highway, rather than a two-lane, accident-prone stretch, include\u00a0a bike path plan that has become popular among road designers \u2014\u00a0bike lanes included along with an adjoining buffer lane\u00a0as part of the road.<\/p>\n
But Al O’Donnell, a member of the Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization’s\u00a0citizens panel, is leading\u00a0the charge to urge\u00a0Florida Department of Transportation\u00a0to change its approach.<\/p>\n
“I think our standard layout stinks,” said\u00a0O’Donnell at a recent Citizens Advisory Committee\u00a0meeting.<\/p>\n
Several other members joined the call at a recent meeting, citing the danger of putting bicycles on the same roadways with trucks and cars traveling beyond the posted 55 mph speed limit.<\/p>\n
SR 82 is a road on which more than two dozen people\u00a0have been\u00a0killed\u00a0in some 200 accidents over five years, including both\u00a0motorists\u00a0and\u00a0pedestrians.<\/p>\n
Safety is a major factor in\u00a0turning the\u00a0two-lane undivided road on\u00a0which traffic routinely travels in excess of 60 miles per hour, into\u00a0a six-lane highway with medians as far east as Alabama Road in\u00a0Lehigh Acres. From that point to the Hendry line, the plan calls for a four-lane highway, with a median\u00a0with room to eventually add another lane in each direction.<\/p>\n
The advisory committee approved a resolution at its most recent meeting calling for planners to ask that the SR 82 bike lanes be reconfigured. There were a handful of\u00a0votes against the resolution, nearly all\u00a0from members who have worked professionally in\u00a0highway planning and engineering. Three members who voted against\u00a0changing the design argued that what may seem to be a tweak still requires a lot of design work that could bring\u00a0delays and higher costs.<\/p>\n
O’Donnell agrees that tearing up the design would be a challenge, especially because\u00a0FDOT has acquired the land based on current design trends,\u00a0but argued against including elements that are dangerous.<\/p>\n
“I don\u2019t want those stupid bike lanes on the side of the road,” he said. “The hard part is, you have already committed the right of way, you can’t go back 10 years and fix it, (but) you can chop up the cucumber a lot better than we have.”<\/p>\n
State highway engineers will take another look, but there appears to be little enthusiasm for re-doing years of work. Zachary Burch of the Florida Department of Transportation\u00a0said it’s more than simply paving a different route for bikes.<\/p>\n
“It’s kind of late in the game, obviously we’re going to start construction in this fiscal year,” Burch said. “The roadways are designed with drainage in mind, with underground utilities, if we were going to move (the bike lanes), those would have to be looked at (again).”<\/p>\n
Because SR\u00a082 has proven a dangerous road for traffic,\u00a0FDOT agreed to put the construction\u00a0on\u00a0a\u00a0fast\u00a0track.<\/p>\n
Advisory group members who support a return to the drawing board want to make sure their voices are heard on the issue, even if the odds of getting the changes they seek are slim.<\/p>\n
Margaret Banyan, an associate professor at\u00a0Florida Gulf Coast University, and a frequent consultant to local government on planning issues, said the vote to ask for bikeway changes\u00a0raises an issue that may ultimately be addressed, but will probably\u00a0fall short of getting SR 82 bike paths moved off the roadbed.<\/p>\n
“It’s an important point to make, my goal would be to continue to make the point,” she said. “My goal in voting would be to continue to make that point that at some point, it’s not helpful for safety for cars, or bicycles or pedestrians.”<\/p>\n
State Road 82 Improvements<\/p>\n
Lee County<\/p>\n
Lee Boulevard to Shawnee Road
\nBegins: 2016
\nWork: Widen from 2 to 6 lanes, new combined flow interchange at Gunnery\/Daniels and SR\u00a082.
\nCost: $56.7 million<\/p>\n
Shawnee Road to Alabama Road
\nBegins: 2021\/22
\nWork: Widen from 2-lanes to 6-lane divided highway
\nCost: $23 million<\/p>\n
Alabama Road to Homestead Road
\nBegins: 2017\/2018
\nWork. Widen from 2-lanes to 4-lane divided highway
\nCost: $39.6 million<\/p>\n
Homestead Road to Hendry Line
\nBegins: 2017\/2018
\nWork: Widen from 2-lanes to 4-lane divided highway
\nCost: $18 million<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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