Realignment of Littleton Road-Kismet Parkway gets under way
A project that has been several years in the making has finally gotten underway, and it will give residents in Cape Coral another route out of the city into North Fort Myers and vice-versa.
A ceremonial groundbreaking was held Monday morning for the Littleton Road-Kismet Parkway realignment across from the LCEC substation on Littleton Road.
City and county officials, including four of the five county commissioners were present to give their thoughts on the project and to turn some dirt.
Commissioner Brian Hamman said he takes Kismet to Littleton to work every day, and that the current alignment is frustrating and a little bit dangerous.
“Today is a big day. We’re going to make this road a lot safer for the people coming from Cape Coral to work every day,” Hamman said. “This is a route people from north Cape Coral take and you have to make an awkward left and right turn. We’re going to make it a straight shot.”
Cape Coral Mayor Joe Coviello said this project will open things up and provide another east-west route and perhaps some jobs with a possible industrial angle.
“What’s great is that it’s a cooperation between the city and the county, LCEC, so everyone has come together to make this improvement to the transportation to the area,” Coviello said. “We’re also looking at some possible development up here with mixed-use with 140 acres being negotiated for purchase and this will be important to them as well for what’s going to go in there.”
Hamman said that with thousands of people expected to move into the north Cape in the coming years, this project is a necessity.
“This project was near and dear to my heart as I live just down the street. Me and thousands of others take this route every day. It’s a frustration and a safety hazard, it’s something I wanted to get built,” Hamman said. “It took the whole board of commissioners to get this through. I’m just one person.”
The construction project will realign Kismet Parkway and Littleton Road at Northeast 24th Avenue. The new intersection will be a four-lane divided roadway with streetlights. There will be a 4-foot on-road bike lane on each side of the road. A 6-foot concrete sidewalk will be located on the north side of the new road with an 8-foot sidewalk located to the south of the new road.
The connection is a partnership between the county and the city, and it will take about 18 months to complete at a cost of $2 million, after which the expansion of Littleton Road to three lanes will occur.
An average of 7,500 daily trips are taken. It is anticipated that by 2040 the trips are forecasted at 20,600.
More significantly, since 2015 there have been 21 crashes at the Littleton and 24th Avenue intersection and another 10 at the Littleton Corbett intersection.