Addressing traffic headaches on Fort Myers Beach

Reporter: Amy Galo
Published: Updated:

Fort Myers Beach traffic causes a big annoyance for many beachgoers.

“There’s something not right here. There’s something not jiving,” said Rick Donatelli, a Fort Myers Beach resident. “I’ve been in Fort Myers Beach for 27 years. This is the worst that I’ve ever seen.”

Traffic at the Matanzas Pass Bridge on Fort Myers Beach is a nightmare.

“I just want it to go away,” said Donatelli. “I want to live so that I don’t have to spend 45 minutes to go two miles, or an hour and a half to go six miles.”

Whether you’re a local or just vacationing, everyone can agree something needs to be done.

“We went left when we should have went right,” said visitor Anita Lawlor. “So then we had to go a mile all the way in before you could turn around and come all the way back.”

Mayor Dan Allers brought up the issues of traffic flow and congestion on social media over the weekend.

The mayor said on social media he is planning to bring these up to the Florida Department of Transportation on Tuesday, and drivers WINK spoke to are happy to hear it.

“That intersection right there (at Estero and San Carlos Boulevard) is horrible because you’re going back on the bridge,” said visitor Judy Condron.

The mayor said on social media he plans to bring up the need for flaggers to direct traffic and more lighting on Matanzas Pass.

“There’s no lighting, and it’s hard to see,” said Donatelli about the bridge at night.

With construction on San Carlos Boulevard set to continue through 2026, everyone WINK spoke to has ideas on how to improve traffic.

“What I’d like to see is like pedestrian bridge that people can go up, kind of like they did in Vegas,” said Donatelli. “They shut that down so that traffic people couldn’t walk across and tie the traffic up.”

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