Veterans Memorial Boulevard improvements in northern Collier County are underway with phase 1 of the project scheduled to be completed by the end of the month. 

Phase 1 extends Veterans Memorial from Livingston Road west to the new Aubrey Rogers High School, which opens next month in North Naples.  

The four-lane road will have two new signalized intersections at Veterans Memorial Elementary School and at the high school. The design and construction cost of this phase amounted to more than $12 million for the county, which includes a planned noise barrier wall for the Imperial Golf Estates. Approval of this barrier will be voted upon at the next Board of County Commission meeting Aug. 22.

The second phase of the project will involve extending Veterans Memorial Boulevard farther west to U.S. 41. It is currently in the environmental studies and stormwater management design stages, with an environmental analysis being conducted since the road will pass through Conservation Collier preserves and railroad tracks. 

“We are working through all the environmental issues in order to submit our permits for South Florida Water Management and the Environmental Resource Permit [Program],” Collier County Transportation Planning Manager Lorraine Lantz said. 

The permit is expected to be submitted this month and the review process can take up to 15 months. The design phase of the second half of the project is scheduled to begin in 2024. 

Ultimately, the project should provide relief to the neighboring east-west corridors, Bonita Beach Road to the north and Immokalee Road to the south. 

“[Bonita Beach and Immokalee roads] have interchanges at Interstate 75, so they do experience the most volume. But if there’s something in the middle that could take away some of the local traffic that’s not going on the highway, that helps,” Lantz said.