Nearly two dozen Roundabouts proposed for Cape Coral

The city of Cape Coral is proposing to add more than two dozen roundabouts all around the city.

The goal is by adding roundabouts, traffic flow would improve along busy Cape Coral streets.

Drivers may be seeing dozens more of these in Cape Coral if approved by the council. That said – adding roundabouts can be stressful for drivers to navigate.

“Trucks can get through roundabouts. It just makes it a lot tighter and harder for people to navigate through with it, and it causes a lot of panicking and frustration,” said Heath Snodgrass.

Twenty-seven roundabouts were proposed. Six of those proposed roundabouts are on Old Burnt Store Road, including along Tropicana Parkway, Kismet Parkway, Gulfstream Parkway, and Caloosa Parkway.

WINK News reporter Paul Dolan spoke with the Florida Department of Transportation to learn how roundabouts are beneficial.

“The benefits of having roundabouts on any street is always safety – safety is the number 1 thing that FDOT looks at,” said David Scarpelli, a spokesperson for FDOT.

A statement from the Cape Coral City manager’s office told Wink News that roundabouts can improve traffic flow, improve safety, and promote resilient infrastructure in severe weather events.

“Come to a four-way stop when the electricity is out. Obviously, everyone is going to try and figure out how to use it as a four-way stop, which can become very difficult to navigate at that point. When you have a roundabout, but you don’t have that issue,” said Scarpelli.

But in Snodgrass’ experience, when some drivers get close to a roundabout, they become unsure of what to do next.

“Nobody knows when to go for sure or they jumped the gun and don’t give a care if vehicles are in the way,” said Snodgrass.

If the proposed roundabouts happen in the future fdot says staying calm is most important.

“Just stay calm. If you miss your exit just simply continue around the roundabout and try again,” said Scarpelli.

The City of Cape Coral told me no funding or timeline is in place yet for the proposed roundabouts.

The next step is the roundabout planning study, which is expected to begin in the spring of 2025 and end that fall.