LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — Pot hole problems are plaguing one Lehigh Acres neighborhood. One neighbor says the county is simply putting a bandaid on the situation and says it's a safety risk.
The two potholes are on Williams Avenue between Seventh and Eighth.
"It’s a horrible sound. It sounds like a car accident every time somebody hits it," said Jackie Palmer, who lives about 200 feet from the potholes. "It truly is a safety hazard. Someone is going to get hurt."
Palmer has lived in the area for 12 years. She says the potholes are nothing new, but they have never been this big.
"We’ve had somebody try to swerve and somebody almost hit somebody in oncoming traffic," she said.
The Lehigh Acres woman reached her breaking point on Monday after seeing the hole grow.
She called Lee County to report the potholes. Palmer says county workers just re-patch it over and over again.
Palmer was able to get ahold of someone to explain the situation.
"The patches have come up again. Every time it rains, you come out, you put a patch in, it rains, the patch goes away," she told the operator.
She thought the worker would just take down her name and that's it.
While talking to Palmer, several county workers showed up to cover the holes.
"I just said to the gentleman, I appreciate they came out quickly to fix it," Palmer told a worker. "I’m disappointed they’re not fixing the whole road, that they’re just patching it again."
Fox 4 reached out to Lee County, asking them why workers are patching it up rather than repaving it and how bad the overall Lehigh Acres problem is.
A spokesperson sent back a press release from 2021 stating in part,
“Each year, certain roads in Lehigh Acres are ranked and selected for paving based on resident requests, road conditions and the number of residences on the road."
The spokesperson went on to say the Williams Avenue stretch of road is not scheduled to be repaved this year.
"I’m worried. I’m worried for the fellow Lehigh people," Palmer said. "I don’t want to see somebody else ruin their trailer or their car."
While Lee County did patch up the holes on Tuesday, Palmer does not think they'll last long.
"Fix it, fix it right. Patching is not working," she said. "Let’s get it fixed right and maybe repave everything would be great."
Do you have a pothole you want to report to Lee County? First, you need to make sure it's operated by the county by clicking here.
If your road is maintained by Lee County, you can click here to report a pothole. You can also call 239-533-9400.
