Traffic signal to be installed Downtown

The Lee County Department of Transportation (DOT) asks motorists to use caution in the Town of Fort Myers Beach at Estero Boulevard and Crescent Street just south of the Matanzas Pass Bridge while a contractor will be working to install a traffic signal this summer. Construction is scheduled to start the week of June 12, and completion is expected by September.

The signal installation is part of a longtime plan to help address congestion in the vicinity of the bridge on Fort Myers Beach. Lee DOT has been working closely with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), which is planning improvements to San Carlos Boulevard and Estero Boulevard. These plans include reconfiguration the traffic flow at the foot of the bridge and construction of two traffic signals. They will be at the intersections of Estero Boulevard and Fifth Street and at San Carlos Boulevard and Main Street. For additional information about FDOT's project, visit www.swflroads.com/project/433726-2.

Once all signals are installed, DOT will ensure coordinated timing between signals to help traffic flow, including a signal that the Town of Fort Myers Beach previously installed at the intersection of Old San Carlos Boulevard and Fifth Street.

The pedestrian crosswalks that are part of the signalized intersections will enhance safety and complement the pedestrian overpass that is part of Margaritaville, which is located between the FDOT and Lee DOT signal projects.

For Lee DOT's signal at Crescent Street, the Board of County Commissioners approved a contract award at a regularly scheduled meeting on April 19, 2022. The contract timing was set up prior to Hurricane Ian to ensure project work would begin after the 2023 tourist season.

Initial work will include the installation of the foundations for the signal poles, which will require detouring the northbound off-island traffic from Estero Boulevard to Crescent Street. This part of the project is scheduled for Tuesday, June 13, and Thursday, June 14. Detours will be posted, with traffic flow altered 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Flaggers will be on-site. For the remaining stages of construction, minimal traffic impacts are anticipated. Any future lane closures will be intermittent and/or scheduled at night.

The contractor will take measures to ensure that lighting used on the project site for nighttime work will be directed away from the beach to comply with sea turtle nesting season regulations. The work is weather-dependent. For updates, follow the project on Lee DOT's Roadwatch at www.leegov.com/dot/roadwatchupdate.

Lee County DOT information is available at www.leegov.com/dot.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.