1500 Monroe Street
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS:
Kris Cella, Cella & Associates, Inc.
239- 337-1071 FAX: 239- 337-1076
Don Scott, Collier County Transportation Division
239-774-8192 FAX: 239-213-5815
CR 951 (Collier Boulevard) PROJECT DEVELOPMENT & ENVIRONMENT (PD&E) STUDY
Corridor Public Meeting to Present Results of Corridor Alternatives and No-Build Evaluation Screening Process
Fort Myers, FL, (November 18, 2004) - The Lee County Department of Transportation and the Collier County Transportation Division have scheduled the third public information workshop, a Corridor Public Meeting, for the County Road 951 Project Development and Environment (PD&E) Study in Lee and Collier Counties. The workshop will be held on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Three Oaks Banquet and Conference Facility, 20991 Three Oaks Parkway, Estero, Florida. There will be an Open House from 5:30-6:00 pm followed by a short presentation by the project team beginning PROMPTLY at 6:00 pm. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer period.
The first public workshop was held on February 20, 2003. The workshop “exercise” included the development of alternatives and the preparation of concerns by the teams.
In September 2003, the CR951 Project Team issued a Draft Needs Assessment for the proposed CR 951 Extension. The report was prepared in response to public input regarding a request to document the purpose of and need for the proposed improvement. The purpose of and need for the extension of CR 951 from Immokalee Road in Collier County to Alico Road in Lee County is based on several factors including regional travel demand; system linkage; safety; social demands and economic development and consistency with local, regional and state transportation plans.
This project has a unique public involvement program that allows interested parties a significant amount of participation throughout the PD&E Study process. The consensus building component included in this project is designed to bring persons with different areas of interest together to exchange information and ideas.
Three small group consensus-building meetings have been held since the first public workshop. Meeting topics have covered purpose and need; the affected environment; preliminary travel demand forecasting; needs assessment; preliminary project alternatives including the “no-build” alternative and alternative evaluation measures. Participants have contributed valuable input including local knowledge of Southwest Florida. Their individual expertise has also assisted the study team in building a comprehensive knowledge base for the project.
A second public workshop was held on December 3, 2003 to give the public an overview of the small group consensus-building meetings, along with the initial screening of project alternatives based on the evaluation criteria established in September 2003. This screening of initial project alternatives led to the identification of initial viable project alternatives to be advanced to the next stage of evaluation.
The public is encouraged to attend this corridor public meeting on Tuesday and view the presentation of the study findings to date. Results of the PD&E Study corridor alternatives will be displayed and the no-build screening process will be presented. Any comments made will be included in the project record. Representatives from Lee and Collier Counties will be available to discuss the project.
Visit the project web site at www.cr951.com for more information.