GSAC Naples reported last November that Deputy City Engineer Alison Bickett said of the plan for the roundabout at Harbour Drive and Crayton Road: "The goal would be to have it completed prior to the next season (late 2026) provided no surprises." The season is about to start. The span-wire signal is still hanging over the intersection, and the city is still taking construction bids.
That doesn't mean the project stalled. The engineering was finished long ago, several times over. Since 2017, Johnson Engineering has produced a finished roundabout design, then a finished mast-arm signal design, and now an updated roundabout design. The corner's shape has always been settled at the Council dais. The question left this fall is narrower and closer to home: when the work happens, and what that means for everyone driving to Lowdermilk, the Moorings Beach Park, or a Sunday concert on Harbour Drive.
Three finished designs, one intersection
The history explains why the timeline slipped. Each turn below happened after the previous design was already complete.
- December 2017. The city hired Johnson Engineering to design a roundabout at the intersection. A design was approved in 2018, and the 2018 rendering still circulates.
- January 30, 2023. At a special meeting, Council voted 6–1 against building roundabouts at Harbour and Crayton and at Mooring Line and Crayton. The replacement plan swapped the span wire for mast arms with added pedestrian and bike safety features. That design was finished and out for bid by spring 2025.
- June 4, 2025. Council reversed course again, 4–3, and returned to a roundabout.
- September 24, 2025. Council approved $133,382.44 for Johnson Engineering to update the roundabout design. Of that, $84,848.60 came from the one-cent sales tax fund and $48,533.80 from water and sewer funds. The city had already spent $154,123 on the two earlier designs.
- March 4, 2026. Council voted 6–0 to finish the final design, fold in resiliency work and utility coordination, and start the bid process. Council will still have to approve the construction contract.
The Mooring Line roundabout from the 2023 vote never came back. Harbour and Crayton is the only one of the pair still moving.
What tipped it back
The 2025 reversal came out of the neighborhood. After the November 2024 crash, support grew in the Moorings for more safety measures and a possible return to the roundabout. On April 8, 2025, the Moorings Property Owners Association held a Safety Town Hall and then surveyed residents. Of the 274 people who responded, out of more than 2,000 who received the survey, over 70% supported the roundabout. MPOA president Cliff Holland took that result to Council in June.
City Manager Gary Young described a second pressure. When he took the job in February 2025, the project wasn't expected to get Florida Department of Transportation funding until 2029. "We said, 'Look, it's been too long already,'" he told Council, and the city went ahead without waiting. City staff have also pointed to coastal-zone signal standards, crash data, and the high cost of maintaining the existing signal as reasons to replace it.
The support wasn't unanimous, and the debate covered real questions. Council member Schultz argued for mast arms. He described long waits at the Central Avenue and Eighth Street roundabout and asked how fire trucks and beach renourishment trucks would get through. Craig Spottswood, a neighbor, told Gulf Coast News he worried about turning into his driveway right after coming around the circle. The station reported that the city had heard concerns about access, safety, and emergency response. A neighbor summed up the case for the roundabout in one line: "no one's ever ran a roundabout, you have to slow down."
What the plans actually put on the corner
The design answers those concerns in specific ways. Johnson Engineering's Josh Hildebrand told Council that testing showed the roundabout can handle semi-trucks, dump trucks, and emergency vehicles, and that residents in all four quadrants keep safe access to their driveways. The roadway plans in the city's bid package spell out the hardware:
- A single-lane modern roundabout replaces the span-wire signal. Two aluminum signal poles and the traffic-controller assembly come out.
- A paver truck apron of 170 square yards gives large vehicles room to track over the inner edge. Another 107 square yards of pavers cover the splitter islands, and 105 square yards go into driveways.
- Pedestrian crossings that cross one lane at a time, with refuges on the splitter islands. Engineer Cory Kratovil said this means a person crossing watches traffic from only one direction.
- Sixteen solar rectangular rapid-flashing beacon assemblies to alert drivers when someone is in a crosswalk.
- Bike off-ramps onto a shared path, for riders who would rather not ride through the circle.
- Eight light poles with a 45-foot mounting height.
- A planted center island with two 12-foot bridal-veil trees, a weeping bottlebrush, two pygmy date palms, groundcovers and ornamental plants, and irrigation. The contractor maintains the planting for 12 months.
- A 279-square-yard biofiltration system built on prepared soil, along with drainage and city utility work under the road.
The biofiltration and utility work came out of the March debate. Council member Linda Penniman said the project was a chance to improve resiliency, calm traffic, and add stormwater and water-quality improvements in the same dig. Council's 6–0 motion that month made that work part of the scope.
Where the calendar actually stands
In March, Hildebrand gave Council a sequence: final design in March or April, a contractor chosen by May, Council approval in May or June, and construction starting in summer and lasting about 10 months. By late April, the Naples Daily News was reporting that a construction contract was expected before Council in the fall.
The fall schedule is now on the record. The city issued RFP 26-025 with a notification date of September 22 and a $1.6 million project budget. An optional pre-proposal meeting for contractors is set for City Hall at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, October 6. Proposals open at 2 p.m. on Thursday, October 22. The contract isn't on the October 7 Council agenda. The city's project page still lists the project as "In Design." The $1.6 million is a planning figure, and so was the roughly $1.5 million Bickett estimated last November; no construction contract has been awarded.
So bids won't be opened until late October, and Council still has to vote on a contract. That puts the goal of finishing before the 2026–27 season out of reach. The public record doesn't yet show the start date, how long the contract allows for the work, or whether the intersection will close at any point. The plan set requires the contractor to submit a phased maintenance-of-traffic plan, signed and sealed by a Florida-licensed engineer. That plan is the document that will settle lane closures and detours. The utility plan notes require existing traffic and access to be maintained. Affected homes and businesses must get at least 48 hours' notice before any service disruption, and that includes driveway cuts.
The neighbor on the corner
One of the corner's institutions has been part of the process all along. Moorings Presbyterian Church, at 791 Harbour Drive, hosted the city's public meeting on the roundabout design. Its 44th Hyacinth Series runs through the same months a contractor could be mobilizing. Concerts are free and generally start at 4 p.m. on Sundays. The season opens November 15 with "A Piano Extravaganza," led by Michael Baron, with four pianos on stage. Organist Nathan Laube follows on December 6, Chanticleer on January 31, and the Borealis Wind Quintet on February 21. The Dordt University Concert Choir performs at 7 p.m. on March 5, and the FGCU Chamber Choir closes the series on March 21. Whatever the construction schedule turns out to be, these dates are already fixed, and the audience will reach the church through this intersection.
The next public decision is October 22, when the city learns how many contractors want the job and what they'll charge. After that, the contract goes to Council for the vote it reserved for itself in March, and that vote will set the timeline.
I'm Karl Faerber. I grew up in Naples, and I'll keep following the bid results and the Council vote. If you live near Harbour Drive and Crayton Road and want to know how the construction schedule could affect your access, a sale, or a closing date this season, reach out through Karl Faerber. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.