City of Cape Coral working on project to address canal safety

Canals are everywhere you look in Cape Coral, and over the years, we’ve seen how dangerous those can be for drivers making sharp turns or driving at night when vision is low.

Now city leaders are working on ways to make driving safer near those canals.

At Wednesday’s Transportation Advisory Commission meeting, Cape Coral’s interim
transportation manager, Bryan VandeWalker, gave a presentation on a new major roads and canal proximity project.

The city is currently working to identify areas that propose a safety concern, focusing on major roads within 150 feet of canal edges.

The city is placing an emphasis on dead-ends, intersections and curves with vacant lots between a road and canal.

For neighbors who live along Kismet Parkway West, that sounds all too familiar.

WINK News reporter Amy Galo spoke with people who live in that neighborhood today who told her something needs to be done.

“What happens is the road turns from a two-lane road to a four-lane road,” said Ben Chavez who lives on Kismet Parkway West. “It looks almost like there’s going to be a beginning of a thoroughfare that’s just going to keep going, and people speed up.”

Not knowing there’s a dead end roundabout next to a canal.

Last year, it was the site of a horrible accident that ended the lives of two Cape Coral residents, an elderly husband and wife who drove off the end of the road, plunging into a nearby canal.

• RELATED: Couple dies after driving off road and into Cape Coral canal

And it seems the City of Cape Coral sees the issue on Kismet Parkway too. The City is currently undertaking a thorough analysis of major roads within 150 feet of canal edges.

The specific section where the fatal crash happened, near 4323 Kismet Parkway West, is listed as an area of concern in the map provided by city staff below.

“This analysis seeks to identify and evaluate the unique characteristics of each location to accurately assess the level of risk at each site,” said Lauren Kurkimilis, the city’s public information specialist.

Phase one of this project should tentatively begin near the end of fiscal year 2025, around September.

Phase one would be implementing immediate safety enhancements like guardrails and signs, followed by medium and long-term improvements in phases two and three.

“I’m glad they’re doing something finally, said Chavez. “I’ve been trying to lobby to get a sign put up, if anything, just one of those basic signs that say, the road ends in 500 feet or 1,000 feet, to warn people.”