Contact: Saeed Kazemi, Lee County Department of Transportation

(941) 479-8503

ROAD PROJECT IN BONITA SPRINGS WILL HELP HURRICANE EVACUATION

FORT MYERS, Fla. (March 3, 2000) – Lee County has completed a $950,000 paving and widening of two roads in Bonita Springs that will help prevent flooding and provide area residents with quick and safe access to Interstate 75, especially during hurricane evacuations.

The ribbon cutting for the East Terry Street/Bonita Grande Road improvements will be held Tuesday (Mar. 7) at 2 p.m. at the Kehl Canal Weir and Bonita Grande Road.

The project paved and widened the roads to 12-foot lanes with six-foot shoulders. Prior to the improvements, East Terry Street from Kent Road to Bonita Grande Road was a private, dirt road. Bonita Grande was very narrow. Both roads now are public roads and will be maintained by Lee County.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development contributed $300,000 to the project. Lee County paid for the rest. The Lee County Post Disaster Recovery Task Force recommended funding the Bonita Grande project to help mitigate flooding problems.

This project also will directly benefit low-to-lower middle income families in the area of the roads that suffered damage in the summer of 1995 when excessive rains caused severe flooding. The paved roads now provide a barrier to impede water flow.