Cape Coral Bridge design vote aims to improve traffic flow

Residents and drivers in Cape Coral have long shared a common frustration: traffic congestion, particularly on Cape Coral Parkway.

Relief may be on the horizon as a project to ease this traffic takes a significant step forward.

Lee County commissioners unanimously voted to proceed with the final design plans of the Cape Coral bridge project so that they can be used to bid for construction.

This is crucial for connecting Cape Coral to College Parkway.

Tuesday morning’s vote determined how the commission proceeded with the next phase of the project.

Two years ago, a company was contracted to design the bridge, with the understanding that once the design phase reached 60%, a decision would be made on whether to retain the same company for construction or select a different one.

The design plan proposed an additional lane and shoulder for the bridge in both directions, which has received mixed reactions.

“When we were going through this project, this was just [the] replacement of the bridges with the four-lane bridge. We looked at the need for additional capacity due to growth, and that’s what urged the county commissioners to direct us to go ahead and move forward with six landing of the bridge,” said Rob Price, director of the Lee County Department of Transportation.

Current data indicates the existing bridge has 20 years left, but the new Cape Coral Bridge is expected to last 75 years.