CAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 Three Cape Coral residents died Monday night in a crash on Burnt Store Road, prompting renewed calls from community members for safety improvements on the dangerous stretch of roadway.<\/p>\n
FOX 4’s Bella Line spoke with a man who lost his mother-in-law to the stretch in June:<\/p>\n
Three killed in Cape Coral crash on Burnt Store Road as community calls for safety improvements<\/p>\n
Cape Coral police say 48-year-old Laura Beasley was driving south when her truck crossed the center line and struck another truck, then hit an SUV. 77-year-old Gary Galiher and 79-year-old Norma Ralston, who were in the SUV, died in the crash. Beasley also did not survive.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Laura Beasley’s daughters and son<\/p>\n
Three killed in Cape Coral crash on Burnt Store Road as community calls for safety improvements<\/p>\n
“It was a lot to unpack and unfold, especially when we have three fatalities. That’s a very big deal to us and something that we take very seriously,” said Mercedes Simonds, Cape Coral Police Department public affairs officer.<\/p>\n
Beasley’s daughter described her as an amazing mother and grandmother, they called her Nana.<\/p>\n
Police say they are not sure why Beasley’s truck crossed the center line. Speed was not a factor in the crash, according to investigators. The driver of the other truck sustained minor injuries.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The deadly crash has intensified community calls for the Burnt Store Road widening project to move forward. The two-lane stretch has been the site of multiple fatal crashes this year.<\/p>\n
“The evidence is there that this needs to be done, and it needs to be done quickly,” said Philip Eyrich, whose mother-in-law died in a crash on the same road in June.<\/p>\n
“Someone else is going to have to go through this,” said Eyrich. “sadly, I don’t think this is the last one. They really need to make this a priority.”<\/p>\n
John Fleming, chairman of the Burnt Store Road Corridor Coalition, says the community has identified potential interim solutions while waiting for the widening project.<\/p>\n
“We came up with three possibilities. One would be to lower the speed limit on the two lane road. The other would be to have a stop sign. The other would be a light where we would put it by Vincent Avenue,” Fleming said.<\/p>\n
Lee County Seeks $190M to Widen Deadly Burnt Store Road<\/p>\n
Lee County Leaders Push for Burnt Store Road Widening:<\/p>\n
Lee County leaders are calling for urgent improvements to Burnt Store Road following Monday’s deadly crash that killed three people.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Lee County Commissioner Brian Hamman proposed scheduling a joint meeting with the Cape Coral City Council to work on an interlocal agreement to widen the remaining 5.7 miles of Burnt Store Road. <\/p>\n
Current estimates to widen the road sit between $185 million and $190 million, Hamman said during the commissioners meeting.<\/p>\n
Hamman said he was approached by Cape Coral city leaders just days before the latest deadly crash occurred on the roadway.<\/p>\n
“When you’re on a two-lane road at high speeds, unfortunately really good people can get caught up in those accidents,” Hamman said. “So, I think a wider Burnt Store Road, especially with a wider median, would at least improve the conditions and make it safer for the growing number of people in that area.”<\/p>\n
County Manager Dave Harner said he will reach out to Cape Coral city leaders to set up a meeting in the future. Hamman expressed hope that an agreement can be reached to provide a safer road for the area’s growing population.<\/p>\n
FDOT looks at widening part of Burnt Store Road, as flooding remains a top concern<\/p>\n
FOX 4 COVERAGE OF BURNT STORE ROAD<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 Three Cape Coral residents died Monday night in a crash on Burnt Store Road,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[3862,12044,209,263,211,210,1776,12754,2345,264,12755,12756,356],"class_list":["post-14694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-bella-line","tag-burnt-store-road","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-florida","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-crash","tag-dangerous-road","tag-fdot","tag-fox-4","tag-gary-galiher","tag-laura-beasley","tag-lee-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14694","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=14694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}