County officials hope to make this Cape Coral intersection safer. How bad is it?

Soon after three serious crashes in 36 hours at a busy Cape Coral intersection led locals to raise their voices, county officials announced steps to stymie the trend, halting left turns.

Brian Freeman, 65, of Cape Coral, has lived near the intersection of Burnt Store Road and Tropicana Parkway for seven years. In two months, there have been more than two-thirds of last year's entire reported crashes in the area.

He's among those raising their concerns after that year has risen steadily over the past three years, calling for changes to the intersection.

The cost for all three segments of the Burnt Store Road widening project, which began in 2015 and will conclude this spring, is $72.8 million, said Betsy Clayton, Lee County spokesperson.

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"The issue is something that we see happening and really were alarmed by the sudden massive increase in auto accidents in January of this year," Freeman told The News-Press. "We've seen the increase in traffic just explode over the last several months, not only with the cleanup, but also the influx of new people moving into the Northwest Cape ... The new hot area."

Freeman said he noticed the uptick over the past three months.

"Suddenly people are T-boning vehicles ... They're running the stop signs," Freeman said. "That's the biggest problem at this crossover."

Freeman said his neighborhood is isolated, but added that the increase in traffic coupled with the construction in the south end of Burnt Store Road at Pine Island Road has created a "near-gridlock situation at times."

One morning last week, he drove out to Burnt Store Road, off Tropicana Parkway, and was sitting still, he said.

By the time he got by the storage facility next to the 7-Eleven, it was backed up from Pine Island Road.

Freeman, a former police officer, battalion fire chief and paramedic, used to own the third-largest traffic reporting network in the country. He's provided his expert opinion in court more than once, he said.

"I've seen and been on thousands of accidents in my broadcast career and also in my emergency management career," Freeman said. "The accidents that we've been seeing here are all being caused by drifters."

Freeman said a drifter is someone who is sitting behind a stopped car at a stop sign, and then follows the first car through the intersection when it proceeds.

"This is an intersection that was poorly designed from the beginning," Freeman said. "It probably should have had a traffic signal from the get-go. The announcement of the change is a very positive announcement."

Freeman shared hope for the change reducing crashes.

"I'm sorry it wasn't sooner," Freeman said. "Hopefully no one else will be injured, or property losses will at least drop with this action."

Freeman said he didn't remember accidents happening at the intersection seven years ago.

"It seems since the hurricane we've seen the big increase," Freeman said. "I also believe that there's an increase in through-traffic as well."

Freeman said Burnt Store Road has "become basically the I-75 westside of Lee County" due to its link to Charlotte County.

"You can bet that this intersection if it wasn't changed it would even be more deadly," Freeman said. "So yes, in the last seven years, there's been a massive increase in the volume of traffic."

Freeman said county officials at one point added trees to slow motorists. But that created other safety concerns, causing motorists to inch forward into the intersection, blocking the roadway, he said.

Freeman said he witnessed a crash deep into Thursday's closure operation.

Lee County officials announced improvements to the intersection of Burnt Store Road and Tropicana Parkway, in northwest Cape Coral, as part of its ongoing Burnt Store Road Widening project.

The county's Department of Transportation has been monitoring the intersection and heard concerns about its current configuration, Clayton said.

After they reviewed the crash data associated with the intersection, officials found there's been an increase in crashes, with 25 last year.

The improvements are broken into two phases and will create a safer intersection for motorists, county officials say.

Beginning Thursday, DOT crews used barricades to close the median between the northbound and southbound lanes of Burnt Store Road. The temporary adjustment will remove left turns at the intersection.

In addition to immediately reducing the risk of collisions, officials say they hope to create a safe work zone for the county’s contractor, Wright Construction Group, during phase two improvements.

The county is working with the designer and contractor for the Burnt Store Road widening project to design and implement alterations to the intersection before the widening project completes in spring.

North and southbound traffic will then again be able to turn left, officials say.

Thursday’s announcement comes because steps DOT initiated last year did not have enough impact on motorists’ behavior, county officials say. Those steps included adjusted signage and landscaping.

The steps planned for Burnt Store Road and Tropicana Parkway mirror those the county took to boost safety at Burnt Store Road and Embers Parkway.

The county continues to coordinate with the City of Cape Coral throughout the project.

Clayton said over three years the number of recorded crashes at the intersection has increased.

In 2020, they recorded 15 crashes, which rose to 17 collisions in 2021 and 25 in 2022.

The county recorded 18 crashes at the intersection this year as they closed the left run lanes 2 p.m. Thursday.

Burnt Store Road used to be a two-lane road, Clayton said. It now provides amenities for pedestrians and bicyclists.

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"I don't see stop lights any safer than stop signs," Freeman said. "And that's easy to see at any intersection. I don't immediately hit the gas when the light turns green because I know there's going to be two or three more vehicles coming through on the red light. It is an inherent problem all over Florida."

Freeman said the county's solution will be the answer, but "it doesn't mean they'll be completely safe."

"This will at least drop down the number of chances of incidents," Freeman said. "You will have one lane turning left for north and southbound traffic instead of two lanes trying to turn onto two other two lanes north and southbound. It was just a bad design from the beginning."

Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Twitter @TomasFRoBeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Cape intersection stymied by crashes during $72M widening project