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Scenes like this of children and families standing along the edge of sidewalks unobstructed on Estero Boulevard to cheer on floats and vehicles in the Fourth of July parade could be a scene of the past under proposals floated by Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Scott Safford and Fort Myers Beach Emergency Services Director Tom Yozzo to erect barricades along the sidewalks of Estero Boulevard. File photo
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Sitting out on lawnchairs along Estero Boulevard and enjoying a view of the shrimp festival parade could be a thing of the past under a new proposal to install barricades along Estero Boulevard that was put forward by Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Scott Safford. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Fort Myers Beach Shrimp Festival attendees lounge on lawn chairs along the sidewalks of Estero Boulevard to enjoy the parade. Scenes like this could disappears under proposals being floated by Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Scott Safford and Emergency Services Director Tom Yozzo. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Crowds line up Estero Boulevard sidewalks to enjoy the Fort Myers Beach Lions Club Shrimp Festival. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Scenes of shrimp festival paraders passing along candy to children along the sidewalks of Estero Boulevard could potentially be a scene of the past under proposals being floated by Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Scott Safford and Emergency Services Director Tom Yozzo to put up barricades on the sidewalks. Photo by Nathan Maberg
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Sightlines for young children to the firetrucks in the shrimp festival parade could disappear under proposals to erect barricades along the sidewalks of Estero Boulevard on Fort Myers Beach. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Bicyclists head down Estero Boulevard, where traffic backs up despite no apparent pedestrian crossing issues. Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Scott Safford and Emergency Services Director Tom Yozzo want barricades to go up on the sidewalks to limit the areas of pedestrian crossings. That could create space issues on the sidewalks by limiting already tight spaces and forcing crossings to designated areas. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Traffic backs up along Estero Boulevard though there are no pedestrian crossing issues in sight. A proposal from Fort Myers Beach Mayor Scott Safford to erect barricades along the road is meant to address the town’s decades-long traffic issues on the narrow stretch of Estero Boulevard. Photo by Nathan Mayber
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Estero Boulevard is a narrow road with one lane of traffic in either direction, and narrow sidewalks where bicyclists and pedestrians share limited space. Under a proposal from Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Scott Safford, barricades could be erected along the sidewalks. That could create potential space issues on the sidewalks. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Children collecting candy on Estero Boulevard during the shrimp festival parade. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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A child tracks candy being flung from the shrimp festival parade. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Taking out a lawn chair onto Estero Boulevard and enjoying the shrimp festival parade could look a lot different in the future based on a proposal by Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Scott Safford and Fort Myers Beach Emergency Services Director Tom Yozzo to put up barricades along the sidewalks of the road.
Safford and Yozzo both advocated for the use of barriers during a management and planning session of the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council and Public Safety Committee this past week.
Yozzo pushed for concrete barriers, while Safford suggested the town also look into metal, plastic and temporary barriers.
The barrier idea, which had been rejected by a former town council several years ago, is the latest attempt to help try and solve the town’s longstanding traffic issues along the narrow Estero Boulevard. There is only one lane of traffic going each way down the town’s main artery.
During the joint meeting with the public safety committee, Safford suggested the committee explore the issue.
“In the downtown area, people just won’t use the crosswalks, they are going everywhere. I go to Mardi Gras every year, every year they have barricades up,” Safford said. “What would the cost be to implement that? What would the safety factors be? Are we worried about drunk people jumping over them? Would that mitigate the traffic down there? Would that mitigate the crossing and mitigate the traffic flow?”
Yozzo, who supports the barriers, said a previous study done by the town found that it would cost about $400,000 to install barriers along a small section of Estero Boulevard. Yozzo said he would prefer to see the barriers north of Key Estero Shops down Estero Boulevard (towards Margaritaville Beach Resort).
Yozzo said there was a danger that somebody could be hurt by trying to jump them but said he thinks it will help improve traffic. “It will also create a safe area where you cattle call people into a safe area,” Yozzo said.
Yozzo said he wants to see concrete barriers, though Safford suggested the town could look into metal and plastic barriers.
“Let’s get it done,” Public Safety Committee Chair Dawn Thomas said.
One of the selling points of the skyway at Margaritaville Beach Resort was to allow pedestrians to cross Estero Boulevard by going up the stairs and by using the skyway to lessen pedestrian crossings. It is not clear if lessening the amount of pedestrian crossings is having any material effect on vehicle traffic, which is largely related to vehicles searching for parking. Also, in the past year, there have been numerous new traffic lights installed that are slowing down vehicular traffic.
Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers believes pedestrian crossings do impact vehicle congestion Allers said “staff has been looking at a variety of traffic management ideas along Estero Boulevard since after the storm. Pedestrian crossings and foot traffic have a significant impact on vehicle congestion, particularly in busy areas like Key Estero Shops to Times Square, so exploring ways to better organize that movement could help improve traffic flow.”
Allers said “any solution must be evaluated carefully to ensure it doesn’t create safety concerns for pedestrians or bicyclists by reducing usable sidewalk space.”
Allers said the cost would need to be considered and evaluated as well as “the impact on nearby businesses” to ensure “accessibility remains a priority.”
Fort Myers Beach Will McKannay said there are public safety issues to consider such as people possibly falling over the barriers. He said that town staff has been considering barriers down to the Crescent Beach Family Park area.
“In some communities, you will see it in downtown districts, especially during festivals where they will install temporary barricades along the edge of the sidewalks to keep pedestrians from crossing anywhere they want,” McKannay said.
McKannay said town officials have been researching costs. He said the town “doesn’t want to discourage people from coming to the beach from coming down here.”
There could also be issues of leaving less room on the sidewalks for people to navigate, where are already issues with pedestrians, carts and bicyclists trying to avoid each other in narrow spaces along Estero Boulevard.
“We don’t want to increase hazards,” McKannay said. “We want to do it in a safe way.”
Fort Myers Beach Councilmember Rebecca Link said anything involved the town’s sidewalks and Estero Boulevard would need to involve Lee County, which owns Estero Boulevard and the sidewalks. “The lighting and signal system on Estero Boulevard isn’t fully completed yet, and those signals still need to be synchronized,” Link said. “That won’t solve pedestrians crossing mid-block, but it will affect traffic flow, so it makes sense to understand traffic patterns after that work is finished before studying something like barricades.
Link said Florida Department of Transportation would also need to be involved potentially.
Putting up barricades along Estero Boulevard would have a major impact on parades like the shrimp festival and Fourth of July parades, where hundreds of families line up and sit on chairs along Estero Boulevard to enjoy the parades. The barricades could have a major impact on sight views.
Safford’s comments on the barrier proposal followed remarks by Thomas, who asked the town council if they believed the committee should be revamped or repurposed.
“The reason the committee asked for this joint meeting is we have noticed in the last year and a half that our meetings are really redundant and we feel like we are not offering the service that was originally intended for the Public Safety Committee,” Thomas said.
“As our town continues to grow, town staff and town council is addressing the issues we are bringing up,” Thomas said. Thomas said one of the frustrations of the committee is “we really don’t feel like we are adding any value. Is there any place for us? How can we help the town?”
Allers and McKannay suggested a neighborhood watch program the committee could be involved in.
McKannay said he and Yozzo have discussed putting such a program together with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
“There have been some instances where certain criminal activity could have been reported, such as petty theft of our lighting project of contractors lighting supplies.”
McKannay said “We don’t have enough rangers and the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t have enough deputies.”
McKannay said a neighborhood watch program could be the “eyes and ears for Tom’s department.”
Safford said he is also concerned about potholes in crosswalks. “We see bikes swerving around potholes,” Safford said. “Somebody’s gonna wipeout, somebody’s going to twist their ankle,” Safford said. He also believes there needs to be signage to keep bicyclists going the right way. He said there are still bikes going the wrong way.
Safford also wants to identify hot spots where there isn’t lighting, or enough lighting. He suggested the town put up temporary lights during season. “We’ve got to have some implementation,” Safford said.
Link said she has other ideas the public safety committee can explore. She named beach safety, rip currents, water and safety education for tourists, no wake and slow wake zones, kayak safety, boat rental safety, high-rise fire preparedness, code enforcement, short-term rental enforcement, fire safety inspections, police and community safety, seasonal police, DUI enforcement, nose disturbances, bike and foot patrols.
Fort Myers Beach Observer Editor Nathan Mayberg can be reached at NMayberg@breezenewspapers.com