Cape Coral’s Gator Circle: Welcome to the Cone Zone

The quest to get home in Gator Circle feels impossible. Okay, so remember when Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida and tore everything up? Total chaos. But then out of nowhere—bam!—Governor DeSantis had the Pine Island Bridge rebuilt in like, what, three days? THREE. DAYS. I saw that and thought, “Dang! When they want to build something, they can build something.” So now I gotta ask… what in the world is taking so long with this one little traffic light by my neighborhood near Gator Circle?

Seriously, it's been months. Not weeks. Not days. MONTHS. And what do we have to show for it? A ton of cones, barrels, blocked lanes, detours that feel like I’m driving to another ZIP code just to get into my own driveway. It’s like they said, “Hey, let’s fix this road in Gator Circle,” then got distracted by a squirrel and never came back.

Now don’t get me wrong, we needed the light. Too many people were crashing, and nobody knew when to stop or go. But now people around here are starting to think, “You know what? I’ll take my chances with the wrecks. At least I won’t need a full tank of gas just to turn around.”

There used to be a little turnaround halfway down the road. You know, something that helped. But within one day—ONE—they had a shiny new “No U-Turn” sign up. Like, lightning speed. You can’t build a traffic light in damn near half a year, but you can slap up a “No Fun Allowed” sign in 24 hours? Even the cops in Gator Circle ignore it. I watched a whole line of cars, including a police cruiser, all do illegal U-turns. It's like the sign’s just a suggestion.

Meanwhile, the speed limit is slower than a sloth on melatonin, and there’s always a cop hiding in the bushes. So not only can’t I get home easily, I might get a ticket for going 38 in a 35. All I’m saying is, it would be real nice to get a working traffic light sometime this decade. Or at least let us turn left again without needing GPS and a road trip playlist.