We celebrated a great event last Friday morning (July 18)—we cut the ribbon marking the completion of the Immokalee Road Widening Improvement Project.  It took seven years to make it happen, but the project finished eleven years ahead of schedule.
We all remember the terrible traffic on Immokalee Road. In a recent Then and Now column in the Naples News, Laura May said it used to take her 50 minutes to an hour to go the seven miles to work. And, Laura Fricker described how she had to entertain kids on the school bus for as long as two hours as they sat in traffic.

               When I became a Commissioner, back in November 2000, I asked when the Immokalee Road would be widened. I was pleased to learn that a plan to build a four-lane road existed, but I was floored that the projected completion date was 2020.  I firmly believed twenty more years of gridlock was unacceptable. Intolerable. Ridiculous. So, with the help of many of you, I organized the "Road Committee." We worked together to ensure that eastern Collier County residents would find relief.

          By 2003, we were breaking ground for the project. My grandchildren were just awe-struck when they saw grandpa drive the bulldozer for the groundbreaking. To keep things in perspective, though, my granddaughter Mae Enlow was seven then. She’s with me in the picture above at the ribbon cutting last Friday -- a lovely and mature twelve year-old.

Well, the road project is complete now. The ribbon has been cut. We travel on the new road every day. I consider it a major accomplishment for the citizens of Collier County. I hope you do, too.