According to the Lee County Department of Transportation, the installation of a new traffic light on Estero Boulevard at Crescent Street just south of the Matanzas Pass Bridge is scheduled to start this week. The work should be completed by September.
The traffic light is part of a plan to help address congestion near the Matanzas Pass Bridge. Lee DOT has been working with the Florida Department of Transportation, which is planning improvements to San Carlos Boulevard and Estero Boulevard. These plans include reconfiguration the traffic flow at the foot of the bridge and construction of two traffic signals. They will be at the intersections of Estero Boulevard and Fifth Street and at San Carlos Boulevard and Main Street.
Once all signals are installed, DOT will ensure coordinated timing between signals to help traffic flow, including a signal that the Town of Fort Myers Beach previously installed at the intersection of Old San Carlos Boulevard and Fifth Street.
Initial work will include the installation of the foundations for the signal poles, which will require detouring the northbound off-island traffic from Estero Boulevard to Crescent Street. This part of the project is scheduled for Tuesday, June 13, and Thursday, June 14. Detours will be posted, with traffic flow altered 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Flaggers will be on-site. For the remaining stages of construction, minimal traffic impacts are anticipated. Any future lane closures will be intermittent and/or scheduled at night.
The contractor will take measures to ensure that lighting used on the project site for nighttime work will be directed away from the beach to comply with sea turtle nesting season regulations.