One of Lee County’s biggest construction projects has finally reached its completion.
After 4 1/2 years of road closures, cones, and construction vehicles piling the interchange of Colonial Boulevard and I-75 in Fort Myers, the Florida Department of Transportation held a media event on the morning of June 4 to mark the end of its Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) project.
“We’re just grateful that people were so patient with us, and we had a lot of challenges,” said Alex Ruiz, FDOT construction manager. “We see the final product, and it’s working really well.”
The project began on Jan. 11, 2021, and was divided into four sections for completion: I-75 to MLK Boulevard, Colonial Boulevard to I-75, Six-Mile Parkway to Colonial, and Colonial to Forum Boulevard.
The diverging diamond interchange was constructed on Colonial and I-75, with continuous flow intersections (CFI) at I-75 and MLK Boulevard, and Six-Mile Parkway and Colonial intersections. A super street intersection was placed before the DDI at the intersection of Colonial and Forum.
“The divergent diamond reduces the conflict points,” said Juan Carrillo, FDOT construction project manager. “It increases the flow through the intersection by 33% by eliminating those conflict points.”
Along with changing the flow of the intersections, the FDOT widened the entrance and exit ramps to I-75 and extended the six-lane divided roadway at the intersections of Colonial and MLK, as well as added an auxiliary lane in each direction.
All of these changes were made in preparation for Lee County’s countywide population and employment growth. It also provided increased safety to facilitate emergency evacuations as Southwest Florida heads into hurricane season.
What is a Diverging Diamond Interchange?
A Diverging Diamond Intersection eliminates all turning movements from the signal light intersections with every left turn occurring without crossing oncoming traffic. It reduces the number of conflict points by eliminating more traffic signal phases for greater traffic capacity.
“Once you go into the diamond, once you diverge, then you don’t have [to cross] upcoming traffic, and the traffic flows a lot better because we’re eliminating one red light U-turn,” Ruiz said.
The Diverging Diamond Intersection (DDI) on the interchange of I-75 and Colonial Boulevard.
What’s next for FDOT’s Diverging Diamond Interchange project?
FDOT has shifted its focus to the construction of Lee County’s second Diverging Diamond Interchange on Daniels Parkway and Six Mile. Luckily for Southwest residents, the project will take significantly less time than the DDI built on I-75 and Colonial.”It’s a way smaller scale, because this [the project on Colonial and I-75] was kind of three projects in one,” said Ruiz. “We have the CFI, and what we call the RCUT (Redirected Crossing U-Turn), and just the DDI, the diverging diamond. So it’s way smaller scale, so traffic-wise, during construction, and time-wise, it should be shorter.”Outside of weather and other issues, FDOT looks to complete the interchange in two years. Once this project is complete, a third Diverging Diamond Interchange will be built on Daniels and I-75.
“If you go to Daniels like right now, you’ll see the traffic,” Ruiz said. “This was more challenging because this was the first one in this area, so people had not experienced the change. So now that we have this for people to compare, they know it’s gonna work. Since it’s gonna be a shorter construction time, we don’t expect as many complaints and issues.”
More about the Diverging Diamond Interchange on Colonial and I-75
Construction began in January 2021.
The final project cost was $54.1 million.
Approximately 300 subcontractors, FDOT workers, and contractors participated in the project’s construction.
The idea for a diverging diamond interchange on Colonial and I-75 was created off the success of one built in Sarasota on University Parkway.
The project had an original timeline of 1,200 days. Hurricanes, COVID-19, labor and material shortages delayed the project to approximately 1,600 days.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: The diverging diamond interchange on Colonial and I-75 is completed.