A third diamond interchange on its way to Southwest Florida

The third iteration of a construction project that strikes fear into some drivers could be a tell-tell sign about the trends of Southwest Florida.

Daniels Parkway in Fort Myers is the latest spot the Florida Department Of Transportation plans to put a diverging diamond.

There’s already one planned at Six Mile and Colonial in Fort Myers, and another at Pine Ridge Road in Naples.

While opinions are mixed on the diverging diamond planned for Daniels Parkway at I-75, FDOT has said it’s the right choice.

“Overall it would make the travel just more efficient, safer and better for everybody,” said Kimberly Abate, FDOT Project Manager.

Fort Myers resident Victor Luna agrees: “I think it will be super! That way could deviate a lot of congestion.”

But that opinion isn’t shared by everyone. Some worry about the logistics.

“It does look like it’s very confusing, especially for people that are not really used to all that traffic and all that kind of stuff,” said Gen Giammarco of Bonita Springs.

• RELATED: How well does a diverging diamond really work?
• RELATED: More changes near Colonial Blvd. and Six Mile Cypress in Fort Myers

But while no one can agree on whether the interchange is a good thing, most agree traffic on Daniels, as it stands, is not good.

That’s exactly what FDOT says their 37 million dollar project aims to fix by temporarily allowing two directions of traffic to cross to the left side of the road, eliminating the need for a left-hand turn across traffic.

“Drivers going through the interchange would have a safer travel through their due to the minimizing of conflict points and the signal channelizing them safely to the other side of the road so they can make that that left turn onto the interstate or continue on through,” said Abate.

Construction on the diamond interchange on Daniels Parkway is expected to begin around Summer 2025.

For more information on this project and future FDOT public input meeting dates, click here.