Express to the Future

"Crash on I-75."

"Traffic backups north of Alico Road."

"Rubberneckers causing slow-moving traffic at Immokalee Road."

Like the rest of us, William Barton, chairman of the Southwest Florida Expressway Authority (SFEA), doesn’t want to hear it anymore. He’s leading a team that hopes to stem such scenarios by creating tolled express lanes on I-75.

Created by the Florida Legislature in 2005, the SFEA hopes to toll lanes five and six, which are currently being added on to the four existing lanes from Alico to Immokalee roads. The fee would be from 7 cents to 28 cents per mile, depending on the time of day traveled, and the money raised from those tolls would pay to widen the highway—at least, some part of it—to 10 lanes by the year 2015.

Barton, 68, was appointed to the eight-member SFEA board by Collier County commissioners, and elected chairman at the first meeting in March of 2006.

The Florida native jokes that he has a vested interest in the project because his grandchildren live in Brandon and "it’ll make the drive faster."

He’s also a good fit for the job. "Being involved in highway design throughout my life, the project made a lot of sense to me and I felt I could be useful," he says.

Sitting in an office filled with late-afternoon sun, we look out over one of the highway projects Barton managed during his career at engineering firm WilsonMiller: the widening of U.S. 41 from four to six lanes just south of Pine Ridge Road in Naples.

As the son of a contractor, Barton always knew he wanted to be a civil engineer. "I loved that it was innovative. It gave me the opportunity to think through and create things, and then watch them get built," he says.

He attended Auburn University in Alabama, and after graduation he and his wife, Pat, moved back to Sarasota, where they had grown up and met. "We came down to Naples for a golfing weekend and just fell in love with it," he says.

Barton remembers talking about the town with a pipe salesman making his rounds in Sarasota.

"Within two or three days, that guy made it down to Naples for a sales call with Tri County Engineering and I got a call from the owner offering me a job," he says. So in 1965 the Bartons made the move. Bill worked in engineering for more than 30 years, retiring nearly 10 years ago as chairman of the board and CEO of WilsonMiller.

While he was there, the company engineered communities including the Moorings, Park Shore and Bonita Bay. "My job was taking very large projects and starting them through the process. That’s what we’re doing here with I-75, so it’s a real fit," he says.

While the learning curve has been steep, he says, "We’ve discussed some innovative ideas and I’ve met some great people, and that’s been a pleasure for me."

But the project has naysayers, including the Citizens Transportation Coalition of Collier County. The group, formed as a political action committee in February 2007, opposes tolling any lanes on
I-75. Founder and chairman Gary Eidson believes taxpayers have already paid for the road and shouldn’t have to pay twice. He also faults population projections being used to justify 10 lanes.

"The growth is in the eastern part of both counties. Expansion of Routes 29 and 82 are critical and those folks cannot even get a traffic signal out there."

Other dissenters say it’s a federal road, so state and federal dollars should pay for the expansion.
Barton’s argument is this: "It’s mostly locals who use I-75. We have usurped the highway as part of our [local] transportation system," he explains, citing a study that shows 85 percent of the trips start and stop in a 35-mile stretch of I-75 in Southwest Florida. "Only 15 percent is through-traffic from Tampa to Miami or vice versa. So if we are the reason the road is failing, why shouldn’t we pay for it?"

Asked most often is whether tolls will go away after the road is paid off. "It’ll take at least 40 years to pay off the bond and to pay whoever fronts the $200 million to $300 million we’ll need to get the project started. Most of the people who ask me that question won’t be around then, including me," he says.

A recent study by the authority shows 73 percent of more than 1,000 Southwest Floridians polled support tolling lanes five and six, while 27 percent oppose it.

Barton is optimistic in spite of some uncertainty. At press time, Collier commissioners were not committing. The Lee County Commission had voted to fund studies concerning the toll road, and the Florida Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Department have been positive about the project. "My reaction coming away from the meetings we’ve had is that they want to be part of the solution," Barton says.

So does Barton, who smiles when asked to what he credits his success. "Last man standing," he replies. "Whatever success I’ve had, it’s because I persevered. We have an obvious need here and it appears to me we have a plan that moves us toward fulfilling that need. That makes it all worthwhile."