Pine Island Road changes aim to make street safer for everyone

The goal of plans on Pine Island Road is to make traffic flow better and safer. WINK News spoke with store owners and employees who depend on drivers to use Pine Island to get to their businesses.

The business owners explained that people fixing the road is good for business and everyone’s safety, doesn’t matter if you’re driving, biking or walking.

“In my opinion, one of the most congested roads in North Fort Myers, Cape Coral area,” said Jaime Moyano, the owner of Southern Subs.

It’s no secret Pine Island Road can be busy, and some would go so far as to call it risky.

The city of Cape Coral said there were 17 fatal crashes and 19 fatalities from 2015 to 2019 along a stretch of Pine Island. Also, there were 1,215 people injured in 747 crashes reported.

North Fort Myers business owner Jamie Moyano benefits from the Cape’s decision to improve the roadway.

“Most of them are dumb preventable crashes, not like cars flipping out or anything, just preventable crashes,” said Moyano.

“We do have customers come right up in their scooters or power wheelchairs, and they’re traveling from a few blocks to even a mile or two away,” said Kim Koepp, owner of Advanced Mobility Medical Depot.

The city’s corridor vision and action plan is to give pedestrians and bikers more buffer lanes and wider sidewalks. Another goal is to listen to the public because drivers want more lanes, more signals, coordinated signal timing and improved intersections on Pine Island Road.

“You get three cars through that green turn arrow, and there’s probably 10 cars backed up. Yeah, so people are running the lights, which is just causing more accidents,” said Koepp.