Heraclean feat? Pumps now working to take water off Gasparilla Road
BOCA GRANDE – Like that fifth labor of Heracles, cleaning out the Augean stables, a crew from Lee County has installed a pumps to clear putrid standing water off Gasparilla Road today.
By late afternoon, the crew arrived mid-island, where large portions of Gasparilla Road in Lee County are impassible due to standing water. The task is that there is nowhere for that water to go, as the drainage ditches are meager, at best, or non-existent. The water from Hurricane Helene came as surf from the Gulf of Mexico; it drove water across the island during the last stages of the storm’s outer bands.
In an email this morning, the Boca Grande Fire Dept’s Chief C.W. Blosser wrote that pumps were at 45th and 35th streets.
The pump is installed on the Gulf side of the GICIA path, and Lee County staff have dug a trench under the GICIA cart path to pump it to the other side, and out. Like Heracles, it is seemingly an impossible labor, as there are acres of water along the stretch of road, and only a small pipe. The blocked off stretch runs from Boca Grande Club in Charlotte County to around 18th Street.
Because of the condition of the main road, the GICIA path, in some places only eight feet wide, is being used as the man artery on and off the island. There is no shoulder on the path, except for a walking path and some small green areas. Currently, all on and off traffic for the island (in conventional pickup trucks and SUVs) is driving on what was designed to be a bike and golf cart path. Some larger trucks are driving on the GICIA path as well; this afternoon there was a U-Haul box truck heading through what is meant to be a nature and recreation trail.
Larger trucks, including semis and utility trucks, are still passing through the salty water on Gasparilla Road, but not easily.
In spite of numerous warning signs, SUVs are still trying to ply Gasparilla Road. Saturday morning, a Mercedes SUV got stuck, and stranded, around 10 a.m. Late this evening, a small Ford SUV tried to go around the blocked road, and instead plowed through the water, just before another motorist redirected them.
Earlier today, Betsy Clayton of the Lee County Public Information Office confirmed that the county was in the process of mobilizing a pump to help with drainage along the road. It is unclear how long this Homeric feat will take, as the pipe is about a foot wide.
The concern for the island is that there is no fast access on and off the island for Lee County EMS vehicles, and in the wake of the storm, calls have been frequent.
The bike path is built on the old CSX railroad right-of-way. Constructed in 1897 by the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway, it is on a high, stable plane.
Getting there
Below, some views of the road Friday and Saturday. The conditions were poor Friday, worse Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon, after a day of sun, at least all the water was off the GICIA path. Those who wish to enter the island on the bike path should take it slowly. In many places there is only room for one car, so trucks have been waiting to let others pass on areas where there is some grass along the side of the path.
