Ceremony held to signal end of Streetscape project
A dedication ceremony was held Tuesday evening to mark the grand opening of the Southeast 47th Terrace Streetscape project in Cape Coral.
Local dignitaries gathered to unveil a plaque on the corner of Southeast 47th Terrance and Southeast 10th Place to commemorate the project that Mayor Joe Coviello said hopes to service the area for “30 years or more.”
“It was just about a year ago that we were across the street at Club Square, with shovels and a big pile of dirt. And as I look back over that year, and I think back upon what this street was – I remember seeing roots growing through sidewalks, the street looked liked it needed a lot of help and it was in disrepair – and we’ve brought it to where it is today,” said Coviello.
The crowd gathered to celebrate the occasion along the $13 million project’s newly paved sidewalks.
The project’s goal was to calm traffic and make a more “walkable” area of the South Cape, featuring 18-foot promenades on each side of the street, along with new landscaping and a traffic circle at Vincennes Boulevard.
These larger sidewalks will be much more accommodating to foot traffic, and all street parking has been eliminated along Southeast 47th Terrace.
The larger sidewalks will also allow restaurants and bars along the street to provide outdoor seating to guests.
City Manager John Szerlag thanked all that played in a part in making the project possible, including City Council, the Com-munity Redevelopment Agency and Chris-Tel Construction.
“We have calming traffic. We have wide sidewalks with pavers to walk on. We have beautiful landscaping and we have a project that I think will be with our city for 30 years, at least, if not more,” said Coviello.
Coviello, along with all of the dignitaries that spoke, gave their thanks of patience to the businesses along Southeast 47th Terrace which had to endure a year’s worth of construction that negatively impacted their traffic.
“Most importantly, the people that felt the brunt of this project were the businesses on 47th Terrace,” said Coviello. “I want to thank all of you for your patience and for dealing with what came your way. It wasn’t easy, I know it cut into some of your profits, but in the long run we have something we can all be proud of.”
“The businesses here took the brunt of this for the last year doing this project, so they’re the real heroes here,” said District 1 Councilmember John Gunter. “I want to thank each and every one of them. I know it was a difficult time for you, but I’m hoping that this project will only make your business grow into the future and you will have a ten-fold return on this last year that you had to sit and painfully wait for it to be completed.”
Linda Biondi, wearing the hat of CRA vice president for the event, remarked on the fresh look of the area and how the vision that was put in place has become a reality.
“We are now a destination where you can walk to the shops, stop in at the wonderful restaurants along the way – the improvements and the upgrades to the infrastructure, the beauty of the wide walkable pavered streets and sidewalks, make these properties along this corridor appealing to all the investors,” said Biondi. “The landscaped streets, the crosswalks, the roundabout – we now have a beautiful addition to our city.
“We’ll now be able to have events like Art Walk, Music Walk and so many more. All of our residents will have one more reason to come to this jewel in our city.”
A few minor details still need to be implemented, Coviello said, such as additional landscaping, addition of lighting, cameras, informational kiosks, permanent furniture and possible tweaking of the roundabout.
The project encompasses roughly one mile along Southeast 47th Terrace from Coronado Parkway to Southeast 15th Avenue.
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