Collier County plans to address ‘Dead Man’s Curve’

IMMOKALEE, Fla. – Dead Man’s Curve. That’s the casually morbid nickname residents have given to the roadway on Corkscrew Road at Wildcat Drive.

Collier County leaders have proposed spending nearly $1 million to redesign the curve, which sends many cars careening frighteningly close to the edge of the road. Neighbors said driving is so bad on the street that the county has had to replace a stop sign 15 times because it was hit so often.

“It’s non-stop accidents and they range from fender-benders where people stop and drive on to people in ditches with ambulances out,” Kimberly Breen, who lives off Corkscrew Road at the Lee-Collier line, said.

Calling Wildcat Drive at Corkscew Road a curve is not entirely accurate. The street makes a 90 degree turn east, so it’s more like a corner.

But the moniker “Dead Man” speaks to the seriousness of issues on the road. Neighbors said the road is overgrown in some places, floods easily and lacks paved shoulders. And then people speed, said one commuter, Brent Keller.

“Sometimes people come flying around at nighttime. I think it’s people not really paying attention combined with not being able to see around the corner,” he said.

County members also included drainage improvements in their plans. They will discuss the project at a public information meeting at CareerSource, located at 750 S. 5th Street in Immokalee, on July 20 at 5:30 p.m.