{"id":348245,"date":"2026-07-22T06:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T06:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/348245\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T06:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T06:19:13","slug":"could-a-roundabout-fix-sanibels-worst-traffic-jam-voters-will-decide-lee-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/348245\/","title":{"rendered":"Could a roundabout fix Sanibel&#8217;s worst traffic jam? Voters will decide | Lee County"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SANIBEL, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 After years of discussion, Sanibel Island voters could soon decide the future of one of the island&#8217;s most congested intersections.<\/p>\n<p>The intersection of Periwinkle Way and Causeway Boulevard has a reputation for backups, especially during tourist season. City leaders say a roundabout could keep cars moving, and many people say they think it&#8217;s worth considering.<\/p>\n<p>Paul Dolan has been visiting Sanibel from the United Kingdom for two decades. He says the congestion at the intersection has become part of the trip.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Police are standing there directing traffic, and we often feel bad for them because it&#8217;s so warm,&#8221; Dolan said.<\/p>\n<p>                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\" alt=\"SANIBEL ROUNDABOUT\" class=\"img-responsive lazyload full default\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" data- data-\/><\/p>\n<p>Voters will decide if a roundabout is the future for the intersection.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I suppose I don&#8217;t know if the people here are familiar with roundabouts like I am from the UK because we have them everywhere, but they do tend to work,&#8221; Dolan said.<\/p>\n<p>City leaders say the goal is simple: keep traffic moving through one of Sanibel&#8217;s most congested intersections, especially during peak season. Eric Jackson, a public information officer, explained the decision.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Council made the decision to go ahead and move forward with a referendum to allow voters to make the decision on whether we move forward with continuing down the road of putting in a roundabout,&#8221; Jackson said.<\/p>\n<p>Some visitors believe the change could make a difference as long as drivers know how to use it. Fernando Valero, who was visiting the island, shared his thoughts.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yeah, it could ease traffic. But also depends on the knowledge of how people know how to drive in a roundabout. A lot of people don&#8217;t yield or respond to a yield,&#8221; Valero said.<\/p>\n<p>                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\" alt=\"vlcsnap-2026-07-21-22h17m09s397.png\" class=\"img-responsive lazyload full default\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" data- data-\/><\/p>\n<p>While the debate is far from over, many say they&#8217;re willing to give the idea a chance if it means spending less time waiting and more time enjoying Sanibel. One visitor expressed support for the proposal.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think a roundabout would be a good idea,&#8221; the visitor said.<\/p>\n<p>If voters approve the referendum next March, the project still won&#8217;t break ground right away. City leaders say the next step would be finalizing the design, followed by additional planning and funding before any construction begins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANIBEL, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 After years of discussion, Sanibel Island voters could soon decide the future of one&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,24186],"class_list":["post-348245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-sanibel-island"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348245","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=348245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}