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od; adding a new force main;
a center lane drainage system;
improvements to sidewalks;
addition of pedestrian refuge
medians; trolley stop locations;
lane realignment; and more.
“That’s probably the most dif-
ficult horizontal construction
project the county has ever un-
dertaken,” Howard says. “We’re
talking about an island that has
one way on and one way off,
and that’s the main road, and
that’s the road we’re changing.”
Chris-Tel has navigated that ex-
treme logistical challenge by in-
vesting heavily in pre-planning
and pre-construction, while
also being flexible and adapt-
able on a day-to-day basis.
“You know what they say about
a plan,” Howard says. “It all goes
well until somebody snaps the
football.”
“So we adapt to the challenges
as they present themselves,” he
says. “We have open and hon-
est communication with all the
stakeholders. We put our heads
together and we work our way
through it.”
Despite the challenges, Chris-
Tel’s management of the Estero
Boulevard Improvements proj-
ect has also been recognized
with an industry award. At the
2017 Lee Building Industry
Summit Awards, the company’s
completed work on Segment 1
won the category for ‘Best Com-
mercial Contractors Project In-
frastructure – $5 million to $8
million+’ and most recently, the
project received the Sunshine
State Safety Award from USF
SafetyFlorida for Segment 2 of
that project.
APRIL 2019