Lee County works through list of side street repairs

Lee County is working through a long list of road repairs on the side streets of Gasparilla Island. Currently, Lee County DOT has assessed all the damaged areas of roadways on Boca Grande and is preparing bids for the repair of the side streets, with work potentially beginning in less than two weeks.

These repairs include many of the numbered streets, such as 18th, 13th, 12th, and 10th, as well as streets south of Wheeler, including Seabreeze, Revels, Pilot, Barbarosa, Baily, Lafitte, Kidd, and Luke.

The main roads on Gasparilla Island are mostly repaired. The county-owned side streets that sustained damage fall into a separate category as “non-federal aid roadways.” This designation means that emergency repairs during a crisis must go through FEMA instead of the Federal Highway Administration.

Lee County has sent its damage assessments to its consultant, Hagerty, for coordination with FEMA and is working with Lee County Procurement Management to establish an expedited timeline for construction.

If all necessary steps proceed as planned, DOT expects to have its contractor ready to begin work by Wednesday, Nov. 20.

“We truly believe this construction timeline is the fastest we could possibly restore these roadways while being eligible for reimbursement of these activities from FEMA,” said Lee County’s Betsy Clayton, “which means a savings for Lee County’s local taxpayers.”