FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Amy Davies, Lee County Department of Transportation
              (239) 479-8589

SANIBEL CAUSEWAY SPEED TO BE INCREASED TO 30 MPH
EXCEPT DRAWBRIDGE

FORT MYERS, Fla. (May 8, 2003) - Based on the results of sophisticated weight and stress limits testing, Lee County is preparing to increase the speed on the Sanibel Causeway from 20 mph to 30 mph.

The change is expected Sunday night (May 11) after the first Causeway Island (A) is restriped to allow a center, left-turn lane similar to the second "B" island. This is being done to conform to the traffic control on Island B and for better speed control.

The speed on the drawbridge will remain at 20 mph as it has always been. In addition, a 10 mph speed limit will be enforced from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. when permitted overweight trucks are allowed to cross the Causeway.

The speed on the Causeway prior to restrictions put in place earlier this year was 35 mph.

The change is the result of weight and stress limit testing by Post, Buckley, Schuh and Jernigan engineering consultants and University of Michigan scientists who determined the speed could be increased.

Earlier this year, the scientists installed sophisticated computerized weight sensor devices on the three Sanibel Causeway bridges to test and monitor weights of specific vehicles crossing the bridges. The weights or "load" of the heavy vehicles crossing the bridges was automatically "fed" into computers that were programmed to measure, analyze and predict the amount of structural stress to the deck and piers of the bridges. Video monitoring also was used to collaborate the load measurements.

The county is encouraging those with questions about the speed and weight restrictions on the Sanibel Causeway to call a hotline it has set-up - 335-2852 - or visit the county's web site at www.lee-county.com.