The pain of recent periodic closures on the Caloosahatchee River Bridge due to a construction project is expected to be mitigated by a 10-week total shutdown of the U.S. 41 span that will begin May 31.
That "pain" was the main reason given for the two-months-plus closure of one of the main links between Fort Myers and North Fort Myers by Florida Department of Transportation officials at a media briefing Tuesday.
Patricia Pichette, Florida Department of Transportation District 1 Communications Specialist, provided an update on the construction timeline involving plans to install an eight-foot sidewalk on the west side of the southbound bridge. The addition aims to enhance safety for pedestrians and bicyclists crossing the bridge.
"This is the plan that we came up with to ease that pain in the quickest way we possibly could," Pichette said. "Closing the bridge for 10 weeks is going to cut the length of this project by 12 months, a year. That's huge. So the kinds of closures that you've had since April will be cut down for a 12-month-period. We think that's worth the pain of closing the bridge for 10 weeks."
Pichette provided an update on the construction timeline of plans to install an eight-foot sidewalk on the west side of the southbound bridge. The addition aims to enhance safety for pedestrians and bicyclists crossing the bridge.
This will be accomplished by installing new outside traffic railings, connecting the two bridge decks in the center with a single median barrier, and restriping the lanes. The sidewalk will connect to existing sidewalks north and south of the bridge structure to create safe access for pedestrians to cross. Additionally, the current bridge lighting system will be replaced with new double arms poles on the new median barrier.
"This project started in April ... and we expected congestion, and we got congestion," Pichette said.
She said after listening to the commuters and residents and conferring with partner municipalities, and emergency response agencies, FDOT approached the contractor and then came up with a solution.
Work on the project had already forced reducing the four-lane bridge to two lanes, she said.
"We're now going to close the two lanes for a period of 10 weeks. Starting on May 31, the Caloosahatchee River Bridge will be closed, and that closure will last until August 11," she said. "What we're going to do during that period of time is we're going to allow a wider area for the construction crews to work a safer area for the inspectors to work. And we're going to allow for deliveries of materials during the day. These are things that we would not have had under the circumstances in which we're working now."
The closure's end won't mean the project is finished, Pichette was quick to explain.
"It's important to note, because there's been some coverage of this closure already ... that we're not saying that this project will be completed in 10 weeks. That's not what this is."
She said that after the 10-week period, there still will be periodic weekend night closures and daytime lane closures, but they will be fewer and farther between.
"So what we're trying to do is say to those of you who have been extremely patient with us up until this point, we feel your pain," she said. "And this is the plan that we came up with to ease that pain in the quickest way we possibly could."
Pichette also said that adjustments have been made in the event of a hurricane.
"If and when a hurricane is coming towards this area, the construction contractor will, within 24 hours, remove the barriers so that two lanes one in each direction are open again, in order to facilitate evacuations," she said.
Additionally, she said, during the closure period, EMS ambulances and first responders will be using the same detours as the general public (the nearby Edison Bridge, which carries Business US 41). "Edison is half a mile from here," she said. "which means they're adding a mile on to their to their response time. But we think that's manageable."
Other alternatives would include Interstate 75 carrying traffic across the Caloosahatchee between Palm Beach Boulevard on the south and Bayshore Road on the north.
Pichette said the closure was planned now due to fewer residents in the area, with many snowbirds returning north and school in summer recess.
"Traffic is at its lightest right now," she said. "So the August 11 opening is a hard opening that is going to happen no matter where we are in this process because we want to make sure that the bridge is open again for schools."
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