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After more than 15 years of talk about extending Vanderbilt Beach Road into Golden Gate Estates, many Collier County residents won’t believe it until they see it but an order to proceed with the project was issued on Monday.  

“The project is happening. It’s long, long due for happening. For seventeen years I’ve been involved with it,” said Jay Ahmad, division director for the county’s Transportation Engineering Division.  

About 200 residents turned out Thursday night for the final public information meeting, a construction kick-off open house, to learn the latest information before the county road project breaks ground next week. Estimated to take three years to complete, the project will extend Vanderbilt Beach Road about seven miles between Collier Boulevard and 16th Street Northeast.  

While the project was heavily contested by residents years ago, unprecedented growth in the Estates eventually convinced many people that infrastructure was needed to take the strain from Immokalee Road and Golden Gate Boulevard, the parallel streets on either side of Vanderbilt Beach Road. “The question today is, ‘How fast can you build this?’” Ahmad said.  

“Growth in Golden Gate Estates has been massive in the past decade. In the last couple of years, the growth has been unbelievable,” he said. “This will provide another alternate route for people who live east of Collier Boulevard in Golden Gate Estates mainly and relieve some of the traffic off of Immokalee and Golden Gate Boulevard.”  

Plans show a six-lane divided roadway from Collier Boulevard to the Curry Canal, four lanes to east of Wilson Boulevard and two lanes to 16th Street Northeast. The project includes major improvements to Massey Street with sidewalks and curbing from its roundabout at Tree Farm Road to Vanderbilt Beach Road and minor improvements to existing intersecting streets, including Weber Boulevard, Danbury Boulevard and Douglas Road. 

New roadway intersections, including traffic signals, are planned at Wilson Boulevard, Eighth Street Northeast, and 16th Street Northeast. A canal that runs along Vanderbilt Beach Road will be relocated to the south of the roadway from 31st Street Northwest to 15th Street Northwest.  

In July, the Collier County Commission awarded a bid of nearly $153 million for the road project to Sacyr, a Madrid-based company specializing in infrastructure development. The project’s overall cost will be more than $216 million.  

“This is the most expensive project the county has ever taken for a roadway project,” Ahmad said, noting that the sheer size of the project as well as inflation contribute to its hefty cost. “It’s more than what we expected it to be.” County engineers initially had estimated about $135 million for the construction contract.  

The county purchased every parcel that was needed to complete the project either through a negotiation directly with property owners or the eminent domain process, where private property is taken for public use with negotiations for compensation. That included about 25 homes and many backyard areas from the 5-acre residential lots along the route, which cuts between 10th Avenue and 12th Avenue. The county requires 100 feet on both sides of the road extension. “All the properties, all the rights-of-way are secured for this project,” Ahmad said.  

Robert Bosch, the county’s manager of right-of-way acquisition, said the county has spent $42 million since 2007 on right-of-way land acquisition for the road extension project and it has another couple of million dollars to spend.  

“When we buy land and when we buy right-of-way, we also pay severance damages to remainder properties,” Bosch said. “So, for example, the backyard takes, if we are taking 100 feet of either property it does diminish the value of the remainder properties, as well, so we pay severance damages. We pay improvements for the take as well.”  

A second phase of the extension eventually is planned to continue the road east of 16th Street Northeast to Everglades Boulevard. Future growth could even extend the road to Desoto Boulevard or even farther eventually, Ahmad said. 

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