Roundabout Indefinitely Stalled by Sanibel Council

by SC Reporter Emilie Alfino

The question put to City Council members at the February 4, 2025, meeting was whether to move on to the next phase of planning on the proposed roundabout at the “four-way” at Periwinkle Way and Causeway Boulevard. Council members’ consensus was not to move forward to the next step, which would have entailed getting a 30 percent design proposal at a cost of $150,000. Council members felt before taking such a step, there should be discussions with Lee County about the possibility of widening the causeway to allow for two lanes of traffic off Sanibel and one lane of traffic onto Sanibel.

“We need more discussion and more clarity before we proceed with the 30 percent design,” said Vice Mayor Mike Miller. Although he declared himself a proponent of the roundabout, he said a traffic impact analysis was needed first, as well as clarity of the possibility of federal funding.

Mayor Richard Johnson added, “It would not be a good use of public funds at this time to approve the 30 percent. I think it’s premature; I think we have other work to do. I’m not prepared to spend $150,000 for a solution that might not be effective.”

Likewise, Councilmember Holly Smith said she can’t make a decision on something about which she does not have the facts. “And I don’t have the facts. Is there a proven benefit [to the roundabout], and what is that benefit?” She wants someone to look at this who has expertise. “This is not what we need to be working on right now and maybe not for the next couple of years,” Smith continued. “I encourage us to look to Lee County to make sure there’s a commitment on their end. I will not be looking to move this forward today or any time in the future.”

Councilmember John Henshaw also was not ready to spend $150,000 to fund the next phase of the roundabout study. Lanes going off the causeway should be “in the hopper,” he said, “or at least close to it. We ought to put a team together to start working with the county to see if we can get a total package together.”

Ultimately, council members decided that contact with the County should be with one council member, and it will be Mayor Richard Johnson at this stage.

Laura DeBruce explained she had contact with someone from Carmel, Indiana, considered “America’s Roundabout Capital” where there are more than 150

roundabouts. She was warned that even if we go through with the roundabout, there will still be times we will need a traffic officer or censors. “We need to know this before we go forward,” she concluded.

Council members all referenced an email they received from Sanibel resident Don Hunter, whose career experience is in developing commercial real estate working in partnership with state and local governments in the analysis, design, engineering, financing, and construction of public roadway improvements. In it, he said, “The proposed roundabout will fail” and laid out his reasons:

• The proposed roundabout is too small to handle Sanibel’s high traffic volumes and will fail on day one, for these reasons:

· A vehicle within the roundabout circle always has the right-of-way. When the roundabout is filled with vehicles constantly entering the roundabout from one direction, no vehicle may enter the roundabout from any other direction.

· Vehicle spacing gaps are necessary so vehicles from all directions can safely enter the roundabout. Without such gaps, the high-volume line of traffic takes over the traffic circle, exclusively maintaining the right-of-way and constantly blocking traffic in all other directions from entering the roundabout. This is called “roundabout blockage.”

· Roundabout blockage creates excessively long wait times and traffic backups for those vehicles that wish to enter the roundabout from the lower-volume traffic direction.

“There’s no silver bullet for this,” said City Manager Dana Souza. “Sanibel has had traffic issues for many, many years. During peak times, a roundabout would have limited improvement. There is greater merit in having discussions with Lee County.”

Souza will report at the March City Council meeting what progress has been made with the Lee County Board of County Commissioners and its Chair Kevin Ruane, with whom Johnson has already spoken.

“Unless we have the collaboration with the County, I don’t believe this [the roundabout] can be successful,” said Smith. “We need to look at this as a longer-term solution but not without the collaboration of the County.”