You're sitting in traffic, late for a meeting. What's worse, it's your meeting-you have the bag of bagels beside you to prove it. Silently cursing the traffic light, the cars, the construction, you pull out a bagel and wait. And wait. You imagine a penetrable north/south corridor with fewer lights than U.S. 41.

Before long it won't just be a figment of your imagination and in the future you may arrive at that meeting with your bagels still warm. In a few years, this is what the Florida Department of Transportation has in mind as it studies plans to grow Metro Parkway both north- and southbound to keep up with the increasing traffic.

Built in the mid-1980s, Metro was designed as an alternate to 41. Zoned light industrial, there are some retailers sprinkled along the route. Its two-lane thoroughfare currently carries vehicles from Hanson Street to Six Mile Cypress.

At the north end, at least north of Colonial Boulevard, is heavy industrial, where just about anything goes, the necessary yet somewhat unsightly. The rest of the corridor is zoned light industrial--limited mostly to warehouse and manufacturing. It's a cleaner, gentler industrial.

Though most of Metro is pretty well built out, there are parcels of land still available, but even those are going quickly. Frank D'Alessandro, a Fort Myers commercial realtor, says, "Activity is very good on Metro from the strong demand from industrial users in our market." He adds that there's not a lot in the 100,000- to 200,000-square-foot range but most light industrial space can be found from 5,000 to 20,000 square feet.

Though D'Alessandro does have three parcels for sale, the amount of available land continues to diminish as commercial real estate activity here is brisk. He says larger parcels of 20 to 40 acres can go for $1.50 per square foot. The smaller the parcel, the higher the price of the square footage, of course. Which is why $2.50 to $3.00 per square foot for smaller parcels makes sense. Corners are selling anywhere from $4 to $8 per square foot.

The stretch going south of the Metro/Daniels Parkway intersection is mostly office space, and as the road goes through its expansion, it's likely to become more thickly populated with similar type of buildings and businesses. "It's no industrial alley," says D'Alessandro. Some corners are beginnning to see zoning changes from light industrial to retail in anticipation of the road extension.

About one-eighth of a mile off that intersection, right on Daniels, work will begin on the offices for the area's newest community bank, Old Florida Bank. Currently housed in the Daniels Crossing Shopping Center, commencement of that project is tentative for July with completion slated for the first quarter of 1999, says bank president Larry Johnson.

According to Stan Stouder, Fort Myers commercial Realtor, a compelling reason to place office space north of Daniels Parkway is because the land is worth more than it would be for industrial space. He estimates that light industrial space along the road ranges from $2.50 to $3.50 per square foot.

Some recent business changes (within the last year or so) at the Daniels Parkway site include: Metroplis, an art deco strip plaza housing a tennis shop, florist, tavern, German bakery and deli and a beauty shop. A Hess gas/convenience store has opened nearby, and Denmark Interiors opened at Daniels and Metro. All this works to solidify the retail base on that end.

An increasingly busy intersection that has benefited from the completion of the Midpoint Bridge last October is Metro/Colonial Boulevard. Here, the failed indoor Metro Mall has been reborn as a flea market, while a new hotel stands at the southwest corner and the southeast corner contains the 18 acres that D'Alessandro is working with a developer on 18 acres he co-owns with O.J. Buigas. Plans are being bandied about for a hotel, some retail and a restaurant.

A Sun Harvest Citrus center stands at the southernmost point of Metro, where signs offer more parcels for sale. There's not much up at this end, but given a few years and the new road in place, that's likely to change.

Road Work Ahead

Though nothing is approved, there are several road-changing options being studied. Mike Rippe, project manager at the state DOT, says that studies on the impact to the environment, existing businesses, rights of way and the economy (and of course, public hearings), the four segments of the DOT's study could result in the following changes:

· Expanding Metro to three lanes up to Winkler Avenue, which would be constructed within the existing right of way.

· Extending Metro southward from where it now ends on Six Mile Cypress up to Alico Road.

· Plans to alleviate traffic flowing from Fowler and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. by making Fowler and Evans one way streets, with a crossover from Fowler to Evans.

While upgrading Metro to a six-lane thoroughfare would allow construction within the existing right of way, there is no funding set aside now. There is, however, $11.5 million available for the southern extension of Metro. And with the substantial expense involved in the changes being studied for the north end of Metro, Hanson, Evans and Fowler, Rippe says even adding the $6.5 million set aside for this project to the already-allocated $11.5 would still not be enough for this massive project.

Obtaining the right of way from a large number of businesses, many of them older and set close to the road, is a costly and time-consuming undertaking. It does seem easier to start the south extension since there are fewer businesses at that end and considering the DOT has the funds for that project.

According to Rippe, it could be anywhere from 18 to 24 months and in some cases up to several years from inception to construction before a road goes in. Likely then the beginning changes are still a few years away and completing the entire project even further into the future.

If traffic were able to flow directly from Metro onto a one-way Fowler Street via Hanson Street, drivers could potentially access North Fort Myers by the downtown bridges. Easier still if Metro were extended directly to MLK Blvd. With access provided from North Fort Myers through to Alico Road, Metro Parkway will clearly be an important U.S. 41 alternative, as was its original intent. Proximity to bustling 41, the airport with its soon-to-be-started mid-field terminal, and Interstate 75 make Metro Parkway worth the wait.