{"id":412278,"date":"2026-09-27T20:59:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T20:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/412278\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T20:59:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T20:59:40","slug":"big-carlos-pass-who-was-it-named-after-early-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/412278\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Carlos Pass \u2013 Who was it named after? Early development"},"content":{"rendered":"

Compiled by B.D. Green<\/p>\n

Sept. 27, 2026, 10:17 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

Big Carlos Pass<\/a> is a natural tidal inlet \u2013 not manmade \u2013 in southern Lee County, connecting Estero Bay to the Gulf, and named after the 16th-century Calusa chief known as \u201cCarlos.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is a tidal inlet?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an opening or channel in a shoreline that connects the ocean to an inland bay, lagoon, marsh or tidal creek. There are dozens of inlets or \u201cpasses\u201d along Southwest Florida\u2019s coast.<\/p>\n

Lee County \u00a0features several major tidal inlets and passes connecting the Gulf with internal water bodies like Pine Island Sound, San Carlos Bay and Estero Bay.<\/p>\n

Collier County and its 37-mile coastline has nine main tidal passes from the Lee County line down to Cape Romano.<\/p>\n

Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a>\"\"Who was Big Carlos?<\/p>\n

The chief\u2019s original name in the Calusa language was recorded by missionaries as Caalus. His tribal seat was known as Escampaba (aka Mound Key<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Spanish explorers and missionaries adapted Caalus to Carlos to honor the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (who was known as Carlos V in Spanish).<\/p>\n

Over time, the Spanish version of the name stuck in written records. It led to local geographic names in Southwest Florida, such as San Carlos Bay.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Modern development<\/p>\n

Before the Bonita Beach Causeway, the only way to access Estero Island and Fort Myers Beach by car was the\u00a0Matanzas Pass Bridge, at the time a small\u00a0swing bridge.<\/p>\n

Lee County decided to build a causeway with a series of bridges from the south end of the island over barrier islands to Bonita Springs. The exact routing was done by surveyor Carl Johnson (for whom Lovers Key and Carl E. Johnson State Park was named). Johnson became known as the father of the project. Construction started in 1963, and the causeway opened on July 4, 1965.<\/p>\n

The original structure spanning Big Carlos Pass was a draw bridge that required openings for boat traffic.<\/p>\n

Lee County and the Florida Department of Transportation planned a modern replacement in order to eliminate delays and accommodate modern needs. Construction began in early 2024.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The current Big Carlos Pass Bridge is 60 feet tall and opened for traffic on Nov. 14, 2025.\u00a0It includes dedicated bike lanes and a shared-use path for pedestrians. Expected lifespan? Around 75 years.<\/p>\n

The official opening was celebrated on June 30, 2026.<\/p>\n

Did you know?<\/p>\n

Over 2,400 tons (4.9 million pounds) of concrete rubble from the demolition of the old drawbridge was repurposed to build an artificial reef. It sits four nautical miles west of Big Carlos Pass.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Sources: News-Press and Naples Daily News archives, newspapers.com, the State Archives of Florida and Wikipedia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Compiled by B.D. Green Sept. 27, 2026, 10:17 a.m. ET Big Carlos Pass is a natural tidal inlet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,209,211,210,47,112632,4082,4083,940,2285,2210,938,941,49,939,34],"class_list":["post-412278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-accessmetered","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-fl","tag-sourcefort-myers-news-press","tag-sstslife","tag-sstsnlife","tag-tagbeaches-islands","tag-tagcollier-county","tag-tagconstruction-maintenance","tag-taggeographic-reference","tag-taglocal-affiliate-travel","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagtravel-guides-travelogues","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412278","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=412278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}