Lee County and city of Cape Coral officials mark the completion of the county’s $72.8 million Burnt Store Road project. The effort to make the road wider and safer had been nearly a decade in the making. FILE

Lee County is seeking a meeting with the city to discuss the widening of Burnt Store Road where a triple-fatality crash happened on Monday.

The discussion took place Tuesday at this week’s Lee County Board of County Commissioners meeting. 

Commissioner Brian Hamman said at the recent Metropolitan Planning Association meeting, representatives from the city asked if the county would consider having a joint meeting to discuss Burnt Store Road and potentially other issues on which the county and city are currently overlapping.

“There was a fatal accident in this very section of Burnt Store Road last night and three people lost their lives on this stretch of Burnt Store Road,” Hamman said. “Obviously, the accident report will determine why and what happened there. This is a road I would like to see us widen as soon as possible.” 

Three people died and one sustained minor injured in the three-vehicle crash near Janis Road.

The crash, which occurred at approximately 8:25 p.m., involved one truck driving south on Burnt Store Road. Another truck pulling a trailer, and an SUV driving directly behind the truck, were heading north on Burnt Store Road.

According to the Cape Coral Police Department’s preliminary investigation, “as the two trucks approached each other, the southbound truck drifted across the center line into the northbound lane.”

The southbound truck then hit one of the northbound truck’s rear tires, which then lost control and spun before coming to rest off the roadway. 

Directly after the first impact, the southbound truck then hit the SUV, which rolled over and left the roadway, where it stopped facing the opposite direction.

The southbound truck spun and stopped in the middle of the roadway.

The driver of the southbound truck, as well as both occupants of the SUV were pronounced deceased at the scene.

The northbound truck driver sustained minor injuries.

Speed did not appear to be a factor of the accident, according to the CCPD.

Hamman said the commission already has done a tremendous amount of work to widen the first three phases of Burnt Store Road.

The next phase needs to be prioritized, he said.

“I know we want to get this last 5.7 miles of Burnt Store Road widened. If you look at the way the impact fee districts are shaped in the north district, the city of Cape Coral obviously collects the impact fee districts, but those impact fees do not go towards Burnt Store Road because it is a county-owned road,” Hamman said. “It will go towards whatever the city wants to spend them on — it could be sidewalks, or could be neighborhood streets.”

He said when looking at the rest of the north impact fee district, it is not generating enough money to cover anything necessary to widen Burnt Store Road.

“I would like to have a conversation with them (the city) about them helping to share in some of the cost widening Burnt Store Road. It’s potentially a $185 (million) to $190 million expansion. If they are seeing development to drive the need to widen the road and add capacity to the road, then the fees you collect for capacity and infrastructure — the impact fees could probably help us out,” Hamman said. “Maybe we can come up with some interlocal agreement to expedite this project because this is an important evacuation route for the city of Cape Coral. I would think they would want to help us get this done as quickly as possible.”

The county manager was asked to reach out to City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn and get back to the commissioners about scheduling the meeting.

According to the county, the only remaining segment to complete on Burnt Store Road is subject to the current PD&E study, which is anticipated to be completed by the end of this calendar year. Once completed the funding needs to be identified for Lee Department of Transportation to be able to move forward.

The study is based on traffic volume projections, transportation system linkage and safety. The study begins at Van Buren Parkway and extends to the Charlotte County line.

To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com