by SC Reporter Meghan Kalenborn
The Sanibel Causeway has experienced a record amount of traffic this year. As of March 2022, there were 993,043 vehicles which traveled via the causeway. Since 2019, that is the largest amount by a wide margin.
With more people traveling onto the Island at a record pace, it is critical to keep up with the infrastructure.
Sanibel City Council unanimously approved a $765,317 street resurfacing project at its May 3 meeting. The project includes Sanibel Captiva Road from Tarpon Bay to Rabbit roads and Middle Gulf Drive from Fulgar Street to Casa Ybel Road.
If roads are not resurfaced in a timely manner, it will harm the city’s infrastructure, which could lead to more time consuming and monetary consequences later. Having the ability to complete this task now with the approved budget will only enhance the city.
The cost is divided in such that $690,741.51 is for the construction services of the road resurfacing project and $74,576 is for construction administration services.
Scott Krawczuk is the city’s deputy director of community services and he spoke about the timeline of how roads are resurfaced and what it means to the community.
Krawczuk said the resurfacing of roads is a yearly project and there is a list of roads visited every year including when they were last resurfaced. Since it was time for the mentioned roads to be done, that was why they were chosen to be resurfaced this year.
“Resurfacing a road is cheaper to do and on a timely budget,” Deputy Director Krawczuk said. “If you don’t resurface a road when you need it, it could become more costly in the future because you might have road base issues… if you resurface roads in a timely manner it saves on the cost.”
The project is scheduled to begin in July, weather permitting. The duration of the project is planned for 45 days, but the night portion of the paving should be completed in about two weeks. As for the way all the roads will be done, one road will be completed before the next one is started. The public should be aware of the construction and take precautions as need be.
The roads being resurfaced are very busy roads on the Island, specifically Middle Gulf Drive, per Krawczuk. So, having that road resurfaced with the uptick of traffic on the island, could not have come at a better time.
Leave a Comment