If you are arriving on Sanibel Island in the next few weeks for a beach vacation or getaway at Sanibel’s West Wind Island Resort island resort, you may incur some minor traffic delays on the Causeway. bridge maintenance
Lee County, which owns the Causeway and collects the tolls for its use, has contracted with a firm to make small, preventive maintenance repairs to the bridge structures, starting Monday August 18, with work expected to continue until September 30.

According to a notice from the City of Sanibel, work will be done on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. from the bridges’ shoulders. Slight lane shifting may be required, but no lane closures are expected. Short traffic disruptions during the daily set-up and breakdown of the maintenance of traffic devices is likely. There will be variable message signs to alert drivers to the roadway traffic conditions.

Most repairs will involve sealing smaller cracks and injecting epoxy into larger cracks identified within the bridge superstructure in two earlier inspections. The work will also include repair of previously identified delaminations and spalls within the bridge superstructure. These can occur when small sections of concrete detach from a slab.

The repairs themselves are not safety issues, according to the City. The Causeway is structurally sound and remains safe. These repairs are to seal the cracks so that saltwater will not intrude and affect the integrity of structural steel. The goal is to ensure the Causeway bridges reach their targeted 75-year life span. Questions may addressed to 239-533-9400.