Alico to help fund wildlife crossing on development site

Alico Inc, the Fort Myers agribusiness and land company, has entered into an agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation to help fund the design and construction of a wildlife underpass along State Road 82 in eastern Collier County. 

The company says in a statement that has committed about $5 million to the project, which will connect to a planned wildlife corridor within its proposed Corkscrew Grove Village development.

The underpass will be about 16 feet wide and 7 feet tall and support wildlife movement between Collier, Lee, and Hendry counties. It will feature fencing to reduce roadway wildlife deaths and will work with two nearby bridge underpasses FDOT is building at Under Canal and Panther Creek, both crossing Corkscrew Grove property. 

Construction is expected to begin by the end of the year. 

Alico will help finance the project through the Corkscrew Grove Stewardship District, which was created to manage infrastructure and conservation efforts within the master-planned community. 

Alico, which announced at the beginning of the year that it was exiting the citrus industry after more than 100 years, is developing Corkscrew Grove Village, a 4,660-acre community planned on the site of a former grove.