The Florida Department of Transportation is kicking off a three year study that will determine if express lanes will help relieve traffic problems on Interstate 75 throughout Southwest Florida.
"Those who live around here know, summers are busier than they are in the past but they are still not as busy as the winters," said FDOT Spokesperson Zac Burch.
In recent years express lanes were installed along I-95 and I-75 in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
However building them isn't as easy as it sounds.
"If you are at an express lane you are likely not going to stop at every exit, so that's one of the things we look at, are people getting on at one exit and getting off at the next, or are they actually getting off 5 or 6 exits down the road," said Burch.
If constructed the lanes would extend from Northern Manatee county, all the way down to Collier Boulevard.
It's too soon for a cost estimate on the express lanes, but it won't be cheap.
It cost 450 million just to widen I-75 from Collier Boulevard to Colonial Boulevard in Ft. Myers several years ago.
"Obviously widening the interstate is a tremendously expensive proposition, whether it's express lanes or not."
The three year study is expected to cost 23 million dollars.