STIRRINGS:Naples Pike possible

The project was mentioned by John H. Beck of Beck & Barrios at a recent meeting of TEAM Florida, a regular gathering of tollsters in the state. Beck, a former FDOT officer, is a toll roads consultant and lobbyist in Tallahassee, the state capital.

Local sponsors of the toll road told us however that they weren’t yet clear on their plans, which might or might not involve advocacy of tolls, and did not wish to publicize the project at this point.

Alligator Alley is the 130km (80mi) Florida DOT toll road that goes east-west across the southern portion of the state through the Everglades. The road’s stuffy official name is Everglades Parkway, but calling it that in those parts will get a “Huh?”

I-75 parallel to the coast from the entry to Naples north is a 2x2-lane freeway, which in the last 10 years had become heavily crowded by local traffic. It is the only north-south motorway in a strip of about a million people. (John Beck 850 422 1011)