Cape Coral wants to add a wider sidewalk in a busy area

The City of Cape Coral wants to add a wider sidewalk in a busy area.

The proposal is for a five-foot-wide sidewalk from the west side of SW Santa Barbara Place from Nicholas Parkway to SW 20th Street.

The goal is to improve safety by accessing a high school as well as businesses.

Neighbors in a Cape Coral neighborhood are tired of speeding drivers along southwest Santa Barbara Place.

Because there are no sidewalks people end up walking along the road. Those who live on Santa Barbara Place say the drivers rarely slow down.

Eric Duhon is a father of two kids who knows the danger.

“We actually make them get, like four or five feet into the grass if a car is coming, because we don’t know how fast they’re gonna be coming,” Duhon said.

Donald Williams also lives on southwest Santa Barbara Place. He said over the last 40 years he’s seen lots of drivers ignore pedestrians.

“My wife would bring our little dog out at 5:30 in the morning when she would get up and I’d make her carry a flashlight,” Williams said.

Now the city’s going to do something about it, by adding the sidewalk.

“It’s a little rough on this on this particular road. So, they should be taking full advantage of knowing that and getting this taken care of,” Duhon said.

The city’s goal is to improve pedestrian safety to Cape Coral High School and nearby businesses.

Until the work is done neighbors said they’ll hope their makeshift speed limit sign slows drivers down.

“We’ve kept it up and everything because of myself and others patrolling through,” Williams said.