Heads up, Lee County, Cape Coral drivers: overnight lane closures are coming to Hancock Bridge Parkway. Crews will shut down eastbound lanes both Tuesday, February 17, and Wednesday, February 18, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. each night for drainage installation. On February 18, westbound lanes will also close during those same hours. Marked detours will guide you around the construction, so plan for delays and consider alternate routes.
This is part of a major drainage improvement project between Cultural Park Blvd and Santa Barbara Blvd. The work includes installing 6,000 feet of new storm drain pipe and adding ove 70 drainage structures. Once finished, stormwater collection will work better, helping to cut down on flooding in the streets and nearby neighborhoods. Contractors will also restore driveways and pavement where needed.
The project runs through November 2026, with lane closures and detours popping up as work moves along. If your property is directly affected, you’ll get advance notice from the contractor.
Cape Coral thanks you for your patience as it upgrades its drainage and roadways for the long haul.
Cape Coral’s $325 million bridge
The Cape Coral $325 million bridge overhaul has people talking, and not all of it is excitement. Lee County wants to widen the bridge, bumping it from four to six lanes by 2031, and the project now ranks third on the region’s list of top road priorities for the next two decades.
As county engineers work on the final blueprints, local frustration keeps building. The new design promises to ease the daily gridlock on the 2.3-mile stretch and make things safer not just for drivers, but also for those who walk or cycle across. Every day, commuters rely on this bridge to get between Cape Coral and Fort Myers, and when the snowbirds flock in for winter, traffic only gets worse.
The westbound span dates all the way back to 1963, the eastbound to 1989. Back then, four lanes seemed plenty. Now, with Lee County’s population booming, the bridge just can’t keep up. Spanning the Caloosahatchee River from Del Prado Boulevard to McGregor Boulevard, it’s a vital link, and a daily choke point.
Here’s where drivers feel the pain: Eastbound traffic starts on Del Prado, then turns onto Cape Coral Parkway. Westbound drivers leave McGregor, then turn onto College Parkway. But at the College and McGregor intersection, northbound cars turning left quickly have to squeeze into three westbound lanes, leading to constant backups. Rob Price, Lee County’s transportation director, spelled this out at a public hearing last August, but the project team has offered no direct comments since.
Right now, three turning lanes funnel into just two lanes on the bridge, which means daily logjams. County planners say expanding to three through-lanes each way, with more dedicated turn lanes, will finally clear out that congestion.
The current Project Development and Environment (PD&E) study aims to fix these headaches with its new design. As this phase wraps up in 2026, construction will start the following year. What changes will people actually see? Expect three dedicated left-turn lanes for southbound-to-eastbound traffic, three through-lanes in both directions, and a new U-turn built under the east end of the bridge. Drivers can use a diverging lane to access the U-turn, giving them an escape hatch if traffic ahead looks ugly. They can turn around and find a different route.
There’s even talk of a similar U-turn on the west side. The bridge should be able to handle up to 75,000 vehicles a day, up from the current 50,000.
The big question: How will Lee County keep people moving during construction? Officials say access to all four existing lanes will remain open throughout the project. Still, commuters might want to plan for longer drives or scout out alternate routes once work begins.
Annoying as the construction period will be most locals agree the bridge needs this upgrade. They’re just hoping the result is worth the wait.
