It’s been one of the most talked about issues on Fort Myers Beach. For years residents and visitors have wondered if lights would ever be installed on one of the most traveled roads in Southwest, Florida.
Estero Boulevard is owned by Lee County, however it was agreed to long ago that if the town wanted lights the Fort Myers Beach Town Council would have to figure out how to pay for them. Back in February of 2024 the Town Council accepted a $7.8 million grant from the Florida Department of Emergency Management to pay for the new lights. The project faced early delays due to the contractor being unable to get parts and equipment.
Between Estero Boulevard and the side streets there will be 730 new light poles installed, 405 on Estero, 295 on side streets and 30 downtown. The lights will be turtle-friendly amber lights and the space between each pole will be about 100 feet.
The first poles started going in the ground on the south end on Estrallita Drive. There are 178 existing light poles on Estero Boulevard now, many of which have to be turned off during turtle season. They will all go away. Once the new lights are installed the town will have a 10-year maintenance contract with FPL. After that the town owns the system and is responsible for its upkeep. The town does not own the lighting system in place now.
On Tuesday representatives from FPL gave the Town Council an update on when the installation of the lights along Estero Boulevard would be completed. They said by the end of October all the poles and lights should be installed and turned on. The FPL representative did not know if any of the lights on Estero Boulevard would be turned as portions of the projects are completed. Above 20% of the installation on Estero Boulevard is done as of today.
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… false crawl can also be as simple as “not her chosen spot.”
Some of the factors that can also influence the false crawls is the beach being “too compact.”
Science should be included in decisions
Safety should be a priority
Emotions should be eliminated
Just wondering — Why can’t decent lighting be used with shields so that the light doesn’t shine toward the beach? The present amber “turtle lights” hardly through enough light to be safe for pedestrians. They are barely better than no lights, and adding more poles for more lights is going to make it look like a circus tent.
My understanding is that Estero Island/Ft. Myers Beach is classified as a barrier island. The purpose of a barrier island is to protect the mainland and provide a home for sea and wild life.
You think its purpose is to make a perfect
life for privileged people who CHOOSE to live on a barrier island. Sea turtles belong. People do not.
Let the haters begin…..
Interesting logic Chery ….
“Sea turtles belong. People do not.”
I’m sure this will age well
When will they be starting? Will this be an additional traffic tie up on Estero? I hope not.
Love turtles, have a soft spot for them, but – this massive project for turtles over humans is truly exaggerated !
Am I wrong – or – only thing I saw IMMEDIATELY after Hurricane Ian were amber “turtle” lights, really ?
Would be interesting to know if this massive change has changed the turtles orientation?
Hurricane Ian was 2.5 yrs ago and since the storm we have all had to navigate in the dark. Now they are saying Nov? 3 yrs beyond the storm? I’m sorry but we never heard about this nonsense before Ian and now all of a sudden we are willing to risk humans lives for turtles? I had made a suggestion multiple times to build a 40″ cement wall all along the beach.It would keep these confused turtles on the beach, and act as a wall to keep the sand on the beach during storms. The openings could even be temporarily blocked off during hurricanes. Also, beach goers could sit on the wall to watch the sunset, etc.
The mayor would say it costs too much but how much have we all spent with sand removal after storms? Not sure why viable suggestions are always blown off and ignored. Instead, we just keep paying for sand over and over and over and having humans walk in the dark because we have confused turtles.
It’s been at least 10 years since the work started on Estero Blvd and now they have a solution? Why wasn’t this work done while the road was being rebuilt? Terrible planning, here’s hoping they don’t need another “study”.
That Estero road work was another scam. No additional lanes, road still floods,etc. and for some reason the most expensive company was selected to do the work. (Bateman) why was that??? Whose pockets were lined over that selection? That would have been the perfect time to bury all the power lines, get rid of the poles AND they could have put lights in the road to help people navigate the road.
But will these lights allow people to finally see where the sidewalk is when walking home at night? Or allow cars to see pedestrians crossing the street? Sorry if I’m a little more worried about human life than turtle life…
Couldn’t agree more! If the “turtle friendly” lights have to be, why aren’t we doing more for the pedestrian crosswalks- like flashing lights before crossing or vertical panels in the road to slow traffic….
I asked the same question and was told they turned them off during turtle season. Not sure that’s true. We’ll have to wait and see.
Sorry yuck. Twice as many ugly poles lining the street with weak amber lighting. How come Bonita beach doesn’t have to have amber lighting but FMB does?
Yeah to would like that answered?