Alva serious crash leaves person in critical condition, shuts down roadway

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Crash on Palm Beach and Joel boulevards. (Credit: WINK News)
Crash on Palm Beach and Joel boulevards. (Credit: WINK News)

A family is hoping their loved one can pull through after a severe crash Tuesday afternoon while two others are in the hospital.

One car was completely smashed from the impact. Within the last two hours, Joel Blvd. in Alva has reopened. All of this comes the same day many have reached out to WINK News about how dangerous it is to drive on Joel Blvd.

There are still tire marks in the grass that lead into a ditch where one of the cars was pulled out a few hours ago.

One of the cars was upside-down as first responders scrambled to get passengers out. Florida Highway Patrol told us in the vehicles involved in the crash, three people were transferred to Lee Memorial Hospital. One of them is in critical condition.

Christina Darling, 39, was driving the Nisan Altima and suffered minor injuries. Saijah Stone, 16, has critical injuries. Jeremiah Stone, 14, and Siuna Stone, 18, both have serious injuries.

In the second vehicle, Thomas Farabee, 59, was driving a Ford Explorer. His three passengers and himself, each had minor injuries.

State Rd. 80 shut down for nearly two hours. One driver said he could not get to work because of the blockage.

“We’ll just have to wait it out,” Timothy Swanson said. “It’s kind of affecting the time of me being able to get my work done, but my thoughts and prayers go out to these people in this accident.”

Lee County told us they are working on a new plan for the road.  As we reported earlier Tuesday, there have been 185 accidents along a four-mile stretch of Joel Blvd from 17th St. to Country Club Pkwy. since 2015. About half a dozen were deadly.

Lee County initially looked at reducing the number of lanes from four to three and adding a turn lane. Now, engineers are considering traffic lights and crosswalks, along with a reduction in the speed limit.

Until then, one woman who owns a home along Joel Blvd., said she is scared to leave her house.

“You don’t even want to get your mailbox,” Esmidia Gutierrez said. “People don’t respect the stop sign. They don’t respect that. They have to go a certain velocity. They just go like it’s the highway.”

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