LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Driving across Lee County you will still see traffic lights that were damaged by Hurricane Ian. Some missing and some still hanging on waiting to be repaired.
"Some are still loose and when I look at that— that concerns me a little bit," said Meron Khut, a Cape Coral resident. "They are heavy and there's glass in it."
Lee County's Department of Transportation (Lee DOT) Deputy Director Rob Price said there are around 446 traffic lights in Lee County and at least 400 sustained damages, which is about 90 percent of the county's signal system.
"They are sideways, they are a little bit delayed, they were missing for a little bit, luckily they recovered them quickly," said Amy Decker, a Cape Coral resident.
Decker says every time she is out driving she notices the delays at some traffic lights.
"It's an annoyance, especially with how heavy traffic is here, but you just deal," Decker said.
Justin Cooper also lives in Cape Coral. He said he hasn't seen many damaged lights lately, but he has noticed a change in traffic.
"I'm not sure if that has to do with the traffic lights or not but rush hour times seem to have a lot more traffic than there was before the storm."
Price explained that repairing the traffic lights will happen in phases. He compared the process to repair a house.
The first phase is doing a temporary repair to get the signal up and running, which he says is similar to putting a tarp on a roof. The next step is sending a consultant team to look at all of the damages.
After that, the county sends the information to FDOT which Price compared to an insurance adjuster assessing damages. During the process, the county is asking for the public to be patient.
"Our roadway system is not working to our maximum efficiency right now. The censors are either not working or aren't even there. We are working on getting those replaced," Price said.
A spokesperson with the county added that there is not a set cycle length Countywide. Under normal circumstances, cycle lengths change throughout the day based on traffic volumes and time of day. Many signals have multiple different cycle lengths throughout the day.
If you see damage to a traffic light, you can call Lee County's traffic operations at 239-533-5762, Monday - Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
