Residents voice traffic control concerns for Little Pine Island Bridge

The Little Pine Island Bridge has been a main focus of recovery for southwest Florida since Hurricane Ian damaged it in 2022, but construction has been a headache for people on the island since then.

So much so that a man who lives near it tried to get Governor Ron DeSantis involved. 

“I see Governor DeSantis all the time talking,” said Chris Bell, a Pine Island resident and business owner. “He seems empathetic towards stuff like this, same with Byron Donalds, so I’m hoping that they can lend a hand here, a little bit of time to kind of kick this along a little bit.”

On Wednesday, crews will shut down the bridge intermittently to accept and unload deliveries of concrete piles.

There will be two separate deliveries, one starting at 5 a.m. and the second delivery will begin after 6 p.m.

While the Florida Department of Transportation said flaggers will be present on both sides of the bridge to clear traffic between deliveries and lessen the impact, some residents think more can be done.

“The workers are good,” said David Loudermilk, who lives on the island. “They’re working hard, but I don’t know if they could do something different about it.”

While Bell believes the construction crew is doing its best to direct traffic, he thinks some outside help from a traffic management company could be beneficial.

“We just feel like right now they’re not stepping up to the plate with professional management for this traffic, and we’re paying the price here,” said Bell.

Bell said it is affecting the operation of his vacation home business on the island.

“I just got an email from our crew this morning and said, ‘We spent an hour and a half getting to the island,'” shared Bell. “And we don’t have a lot of time. Sometimes, if we have a tenant coming and going on the same day, we only have a few hours in between. And you know, our cleaning crew is trying to manage that, as well as who knows how many other crews.”

Meanwhile, Loudermilk shared his son has similar issues with his trash removal business. He travels on and off Pine Island every day.

“Sometimes, if he has to make a trip, he could only make two with all the traffic,” said Loudermilk. “And if it wasn’t for the traffic, (he’d make) maybe six or seven trips back and forth.”

WINK News reporter Amy Galo contacted FDOT, raising the community’s concerns. She was told the project is on track for the targeted completion of phase one this Spring, which will return the bridge to two lanes.

FDOT also shared that the completion of the bridge reconstruction is still anticipated for Winter 2025.

“Once completed, the new bridge will strengthen infrastructure, enhance transportation safety, and promote long-term economic growth in the area,” FDOT said in a recent press release.

To help accelerate progress on this project, FDOT told WINK News it had taken several steps, including increasing construction resources and work crews, conducting nighttime work where feasible to minimize traffic disruptions and adjusting schedules to be more efficient.

FDOT added it “continuously evaluates the construction schedule and traffic management plans to minimize disruptions. The contractor has flaggers and additional staff onsite performing real-time traffic surveillance, monitoring backups, and adjusting the signal timing accordingly.”