Around The Vineyards, the Interstate Work Is Mostly Done. The Beach Road Work Is Just Starting.

If you left The Vineyards in April, you left a Pine Ridge Road interchange still under construction and a Vanderbilt Beach Road that ended east of Collier Boulevard. Both changed in June. The interchange at I-75 now runs in its final diverging diamond pattern, and Vanderbilt Beach Road now continues seven miles east.

West of the community, things are moving the other way. Collier County began widening Vanderbilt Beach Road between Goodlette-Frank Road and US 41 this summer. That is the stretch on the way to the beach and to Mercato, and its most restrictive phase is scheduled for spring 2027, the middle of season. Over this season the slow driving around The Vineyards, which sits between Pine Ridge Road and Vanderbilt Beach Road, shifts from the interstate side to the beach side.

The Pine Ridge interchange already switched

FDOT moved I-75 at Pine Ridge Road, Exit 107, into its final diverging diamond configuration over the weekend of May 29. The interchange was scheduled to open Monday, June 1. WINK News reported that it opened about 30 hours early and called it Collier County's first diverging diamond.

If this is your first drive through it since spring, here is the sequence:

1. As you approach I-75 on Pine Ridge, pavement markings guide you across to the opposite side of the road for a short distance.
2. From that side, you turn left onto the I-75 ramps without crossing oncoming traffic.
3. If you're staying on Pine Ridge, the lanes cross back to the usual side once you're through the interchange.

FDOT's stated goals are less delay on Pine Ridge, fewer conflict points and room for future traffic growth. First impressions in opening week were mixed. One passenger told WINK the layout looked alarming at first, then:

"the flow was set up so well with the cones that when it verged right back over to the original, it was already done, and it was just easy peasy"

A driver in the same report called it "a little confusing" and compared it to driving in the UK.

One more weekend closure is still coming at Pine Ridge

The June switch finished the traffic pattern, not the project. FDOT's project page says crews will install signs on the overhead trusses in late October or early November. That work requires ramp closures and a full weekend closure of eastbound and westbound Pine Ridge Road under I-75 for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. FDOT's weekly report for October 18 to 24 still said those dates were not final.

The two most recent full closures used the same detours, and they give a good idea of what to expect, though FDOT will publish the official routes:

• Southbound I-75 to eastbound Pine Ridge: exit at Immokalee Road, Exit 111, then take Logan Boulevard south back to Pine Ridge.
• Northbound I-75 to westbound Pine Ridge: exit at Golden Gate Parkway, Exit 105, then take Livingston Road north back to Pine Ridge.
• Crossing under I-75 on Pine Ridge: take I-75 and U-turn at Immokalee Road or Golden Gate Parkway.

Gulf Coast News reported those same routes for a September closure that ran from 11 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday, with I-75 open overhead the whole time. Until the project wraps up, FDOT also warns of possible overnight lane closures on Pine Ridge from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and ramp closures from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Remaining work includes permanent signals, signal timing, wrong-way vehicle detection and sod. The whole $27.5 million project is expected to finish in mid-2027.

That's one known weekend of disruption, sometime around the first week of November, on a road that already runs in its finished pattern. The interstate side of the community is close to done.

East, Vanderbilt Beach Road now keeps going

The second summer change also sits on the I-75 side. Collier County opened Phase I of the Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension on June 12. It's a new seven-mile road from Collier Boulevard to 16th Street NE. The county's announcement describes six divided lanes with pedestrian and bicycle facilities out to Wilson Boulevard, narrowing to two lanes from east of Wilson to 16th Street NE. There are new traffic signals at Wilson Boulevard, 8th Street NE and 16th Street NE, and upgraded intersections at Collier Boulevard, Weber Boulevard, Danbury Boulevard and Douglas Road.

The county called it one of the biggest road projects it has taken on and expects it to relieve other arterial roads and shorten emergency response times. Phase II, from 16th Street NE to Everglades Boulevard, was in final design in June and could start construction in early 2027. That work is miles east of The Vineyards, so the road you'll drive this season is the one that opened in June.

West, the widening is only starting

The roadwork with the longest season ahead is on the other side. In July, Collier County announced that the contractor was mobilizing to widen Vanderbilt Beach Road from four lanes to six. The work runs about 1.8 miles, from just east of US 41 to east of Goodlette-Frank Road. Most of the new lanes go into the existing median, because the road was originally planned and permitted for six lanes. The project also rebuilds the intersections at Strada Place and Goodlette-Frank Road and changes the median openings at Bay Laurel Drive and on the west side of the Goodlette-Frank intersection.

Three details matter for a season of beach runs and dinners out:

The county's transportation projects page still listed the $28.4 million widening as in construction this fall. It shows the same daytime closure hours and the same spring 2027 lane reduction, with no change to the schedule. The county says drivers with no destination near the work may want to take another route.

The timing is the problem. The Pine Ridge interchange made its big traffic switch over a late-May weekend, and what it has left this season is one weekend closure plus overnight work. The Vanderbilt Beach Road widening puts its single-lane stretch in spring, with the road at its busiest.

Mercato is in transition, too

Mercato, along Strada Place, is one of the destinations inside the widening zone, and it has its own change underway. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema closed there in September. Mercato announced on October 21 that Paragon Theaters will open a 33,700-square-foot theater in the same space in 2027, according to the Naples Daily News. For this season, Mercato has no movie theater, and the drive there runs through an active work zone.

What is still only a plan on Pine Ridge

Closer to home, one more Pine Ridge change is still in design. In June, Collier County presented 60 percent design plans for a Pine Ridge Road corridor project from Livingston Road to Lawson Way. The plans propose a jughandle at Livingston and Pine Ridge that would route left turns from Livingston and eastbound right turns from Pine Ridge away from the main intersection, along with other turn-lane and sidewalk changes. The notice gave no construction start date, and public comment closed July 2, 2026, so Livingston and Pine Ridge will look the same this season as it did last season.

The season's calendar, by direction

Before the Pine Ridge weekend closure, check FDOT's project page for the confirmed dates and detours. FDOT says schedules can shift with weather and underground conditions.

Roadwork like this changes how a home's location feels day to day, and that comes up when owners weigh where to spend future seasons in Naples. If you'd like to talk through what these corridor projects mean for your own street, The Silvers Group is glad to share what we're seeing locally. Schedule a consultation, or join our private listings list.