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Bridge to Sanibel Island reopening, well ahead of schedule [1]

['Michael Moline', 'More From Author', '- October']

Date: 2022-10-19  

The road crossing to Sanibel Island, severed in three places by Hurricane Ian, was reopening to civilian traffic on Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a public announcement.

Private vehicles would be allowed to cross at 11 a.m., 10 days ahead of schedule, the governor said. In the meantime, he and other dignitaries, staged at the entrance to the Sanibel causeway, watched as a group of repair vehicles began the trip to the barrier island — a “preview,” DeSantis said.

Kathleen Passidomo, a Naples Republican in line to become president of the Florida Senate following next month’s elections, attended the gathering, standing in the background but not speaking. DeSantis took no questions from reporters at the scene.

Officials effected temporary repairs to allow a convoy of electric-line-repair equipment to travel to the island last week. Although Ian didn’t damage the main bridge structure, the earthen causeway required repairs to allow traffic to flow to the island.

“There’s been huge progress made, particularly with the power infrastructure. Y’know, there’s more that needs to be done. But man, some of that stuff was really, really bad. And if we had not done that one-time convoy, we wouldn’t have made even a fraction of the progress,” DeSantis said.

“Now that you have this, it’s going to be easier to get more people on there,” the island, he continued.

Lee County in Southwest Florida will supervise permanent repairs with state support, the governor said.

The state also has installed a temporary bridge to nearby Pine Island, which allowed power companies to restore electric service there to structures capable of receiving it. On Sanibel, workers still need to repair transmission lines, rebuild a substation, set new poles, and remove vegetative debris, DeSantis said.

Power being restored

He urged residents to stay out of the workers’ way. Perhaps more than one-quarter of customers will see restoration of power this week, including fire stations, an elementary school, and neighborhoods in central Sanibel and Captiva islands, the governor said.

The northern end of Captiva suffered damage to underground power infrastructure that will require “a complete rebuild,” DeSantis said. “That will likely be done some time in November.”

DeSantis bragged about his ability to cut red tape.

“It’s something that shows a little bit of a can-do spirit for a change, and maybe we should just be focused on getting things done and not be mired in bureaucracy all the time,” he said.

Ian send up to 12 feet of storm surge across the barrier islands when it made landfall on Sept. 28.

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[1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2022/10/19/bridge-to-sanibel-island-reopening-well-ahead-of-schedule/

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