Problems persist after median extended at dangerous Lehigh intersection

Drivers are voicing their concerns about a road they say is unsafe, even after the completion of a road improvement project.

Lee County extended the median at Gunnery Road and 5th Street, just north of Lee Boulevard in Lehigh Acres.

They wrapped up that project two weeks ago, but now the county says they need to re-evaluate the change.

For the past year, Allison Carter says she witnessed the majority of 17 crashes at the intersection.

“It’s caused more of a headache and is more of a stress and frustration,” she said about the median at Gunnery Road which is just down the road from her house. “As I drive this road, I could get sideswiped.”

The problem? People are ignoring posted signs, cutting across Gunnery onto 5th Street and making u-turns where they aren’t allowed.

Allison says the median needs to be extended.

But, it already has been, and Lee County just finished adding a second median which is an additional 50 feet long.

But traffic problems persist.

“It’s already worse since when they put the median in,” Billy Thomas said. Thomas says he has kept a close eye on the impacts of the new project.

“They were taking the left, and then going through head-on traffic and others coming around,” he said. “This was the morning after they finished it.”

So neighbors took matters into their own hands. Carter called the cops numerous times, afraid for student safety.

“Nothing got done, so I literally sat up here on Friday afternoon and I took pictures,” she said.

Carter asked the community to come see her concern for themselves, and now the county says they are re-evaluating the intersection’s safety.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated the length of a new second median. It is an additional 50 feet.