Water treatment construction project dragging on in SWFL

Residents are living in construction zones as crews work to connect water treatment plants from Fort Myers to Cape Coral.

The goal of the project is to make sure people in Cape Coral have plenty of water during the dry season.

Residents would like to see the progress get accelerated but there’s not much the crews can do. Material delays have posed a challenge throughout the construction but crews have made progress in Cape Coral and across the river in Fort Myers.

Some driveways are torn up others need to be repaired while crews move down Everest Parkway to install pipe for the Caloosahatchee Connect Project.

Curtis Hampton has lived in the area for five years and for the past few months he’s lived in a construction zone. “Looks like the worst is going to be yet to come,” Hampton said. “They’re just two houses away now.” The construction is getting closer and closer to Hampton’s house.

“I can’t use the one side if I go for a walk or I go down that way,” said Hampton. “I have to walk on the other side.”

That’s because that area is lined with construction equipment taking up the right of way. The project’s construction has also started to slow down because of material delays. For example, Culverts are needed for restoration work but the public information firm for the project said that won’t be in until the end of August.

“They’ve been steady on other days,” said Hampton. “Where today it doesn’t look like nobody’s out there.”

And on the Fort Myers side, work is still going on the connection point on McGregor Boulevard. Most of the open cut pipe along the roads leading there are in and the work on Barkley Circle off Summerlin Road is expected to be cleaned up by Monday.

The next big milestone for this project is underwater drilling. Cape Coral has secured a contractor and work is scheduled to begin at the end of 2022.

WINK News was told crews aren’t at the halfway point to the Everest water reclamation facility yet. And barring any more delays the project is scheduled to be completed by next summer.