Cape Coral streets, school bus stops to get brighter

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – Ask any parent in north Cape Coral, and many will tell you their kid’s bus step isn’t very well lit in the morning, even dangerous.

“There’s no lighting there. If you’re not paying attention you would not see kids standing there,” said Tony Davis.

City leaders also know it’s a major safety concern. In fact, the city’s had more street lights on its radar for a while, but budget constraints have kept leaders from taking any action for more than five years.

“They really just had no money, so they did the best they could with what they had and street lights unfortunately came down on the list,” said city councilman Jim Burch.

Now the city has enough funding set aside ($100,000) to install new street lights at 19 bus stops, mostly in neighborhoods north of Pine Island Road.

Bus stop locations can change from year to year, so what’s to guarantee that a stop that gets a new light will still be a bus stop a year from now?

The city says they coordinated closely with the Lee County School District to target bus stops that are more likely to be used on a permanent basis.

The lights are expected to be installed by the end of the year.

Cape Coral also plans to add dozens of more street lights to different neighborhoods on top of the initial 19, but is still in the process of figuring out exactly where and how many it can afford.