FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 A Lee County man says he can\u2019t take a bike ride along one of the area\u2019s busiest roads without coming across hazards he believes have been sitting there for years.<\/p>\n
Jason Gerrish brought his concerns, and dozens of photos, to WINK Listens, documenting what he says are ongoing problems along Summerlin Road that drivers may not notice while passing through at highway speeds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a number of things that I\u2019ve noticed as I cycle that route a lot, including dilapidated, abandoned utility boxes,\u201d Gerrish said. \u201cIt almost seems like they\u2019re forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gerrish says he has counted more than 80 locations near Winkler Road that he believes need work. He says nearly every ride turns into another round of documentation \u2014 capturing irrigation pipes sticking out of the ground, broken sidewalk edges with steep drops, sand and gravel where cyclists ride, and fencing knocked down near the Shell Point Preserve.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see the conditions like that, it just\u2026I felt like it kind of looks poorly on us as to how we maintain and take care of our community,\u201d Gerrish said.<\/p>\n
He says the concerns aren\u2019t just about appearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpen wires, hanging out\u2026 there is a safety concern there,\u201d Gerrish said.<\/p>\n
WINK News went out to see the area and found the conditions Gerrish documented were still present, including utility boxes left open and exposed.<\/p>\n
Gerrish says he has contacted the county multiple times, sent emails, and eventually filed a formal Request for Action, but felt little had changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just seemed like several months went by,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In an email response to WINK News, a county spokesperson said the utility equipment visible along Summerlin Road is not maintained by the county, but by a private utility company.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson did not identify which company is responsible, and WINK News is working to find that information.<\/p>\n
As for the damaged fencing near the Shell Point Preserve, the county said the fence is located on private property and is the responsibility of the property owner.<\/p>\n
The county said crews are looking into Gerrish\u2019s other concerns.<\/p>\n
Gerrish says he initially blamed Hurricane Ian for some of the damage, but believes the issues have now lingered far longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s over three years, and it just seems like, okay, this still looks pretty bad,\u201d Gerrish said. \u201cSomething ought to be done to improve it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says that\u2019s why he decided to bring his concerns to WINK Listens \u2014 hoping those responsible hear him too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 A Lee County man says he can\u2019t take a bike ride along one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,59044,65917,1694,356,65913,65914,65912,65916,65915],"class_list":{"0":"post-134390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-coral","8":"tag-cape-coral","9":"tag-cape-coral-headlines","10":"tag-cape-coral-news","11":"tag-cyclist","12":"tag-frequent-cyclist","13":"tag-ian","14":"tag-lee-county","15":"tag-summerlin","16":"tag-summerlin-parkway","17":"tag-summerlin-road","18":"tag-summerlin-road-lee-county","19":"tag-utility-equipment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}