by SC Publisher Shannen Hayes
Motorists will have a smooth drive this weekend across the Sanibel Causeway as the Florida Department of Transportation wraps up a substantial amount of reconstruction work from Hurricane Ian before the end of the year. Paving and striping will be completed this week.
“You’ll see a much different roadway this weekend,” FDOT Community Liaison Jennifer Dorning said today, Dec. 20, in a webinar hosted by the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce.
There will soon be a smoother driving surface, wider lanes with shoulders, fewer traffic shifts, and a second toll plaza lane. “We plan to not impact traffic nearly as much as we are now,” said Dorning.
In the end, the Causeway will look very similar to before the storm. But it will be more resilient to future storms, Dorning explained.
New resiliency features include several layers of protective sheet pile walls anchored 50 feet down to protect the roadway. Dorn said the Causeway did not have that protection before the storm. “When the water came up over the road and then sucked all the sand back out, that caused a lot of the issues.”
Island walls will protect the causeway islands roadway and sea walls will protect the recently repaired bridge approaches, as retaining walls protect the sides of the bridge. King pile walls, driven 50 feet under the water’s surface, wrap around the bridge abutments. Each wall has a protective concrete cap which is formed then poured. Concrete delivery is currently underway.
A drainage structure between the bridge and retaining wall will protect the road from high water. Sea water will drain off the road and be filtered there before returning to the Gulf of Mexico.
Marine mattresses, made of small rocks held within a framework and weighing 9,000 pounds each, will absorb wave energy to protect the bridge and shoreline. As the marine mattresses fill with silt, they will support plant life and become habitat, providing further resiliency.
“We’re going to be proud of this because we know there are others across the state looking at what we’re doing and making design changes based on some of these things we’re doing for Sanibel,” said Dorning.
Crews are currently filling the marine mattresses and will continue to work on them for several weeks. While a substantial amount the roadway work will be completed by the end of the year, water work for bridge protection will continue until early 2025.
“We made a commitment to have a substantial part of the roadway completed by the end of this year,” said Dorning. “So this week is really tough for everybody because (crews) are pulling long shifts and we have a lot of people out there. It’s incredible what they are doing and we appreciate your patience while we’re trying to get through this.”
Motorists should expect traffic delays crossing the bridge in the mornings and afternoons until the roadway work is completed.
Waited in traffic 3 1/2 hours yesterday afternoon to pick up friend at airport. They had to take LYFT as we only made it from Bowman’s Beach area to Traders in 3 1/2 hours!