Middle school students finally get sidewalk; construction begins after months of delays

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Students at Fort Myers Middle School walk on the street or in ditches to get to and from school every day, but a new sidewalk is finally on the way.

"It's exhilarating," said Brian Gibson, the principal. "It's been a long, long haul of conversations with the city and the county trying to figure out how we're going to get this sidewalk in place to provide our students with a safe way to get home."

Construction for a sidewalk on Moreno Ave. was set to begin in the Summer of 2024. The City of Fort Myers had said it would be completed before the start of the school year, then in September, then October, before it finally started on January 12.

The city said going through Lee County's permitting process delayed the start of construction. The sidewalk, now expected to be completed by the end of February.

It's a project that's been in the works for years, but more actively in the past few months, as the safety of students has been a major concern. WINK News caught many having to walk in the road with cars driving by.

"Our students were not safe," said Gibson. "They had to walk in the road or share the road with the cars and cars were not respecting the kids walking by, and so kids had to sometimes get out of the road, walk in this in the grassy area."

But there's a catch.

The sidewalk will stop just before Broadway Ave., because the city said the county isn't participating in the project. The county told WINK News, it's not in the budget.

"We're only getting half a sidewalk," said Mary Wilson, a parent. "So, the kids will not have a sidewalk halfway through the road because the county doesn't want to pay for it. It's just very disappointing."

Gibson and Wilson both hope the county will reconsider.

"My hope is that you know, once the city finished doing the work that they need to do in the city, then completes the project of adding the sidewalk for our students be able to walk on that the county comes out and recognize that there's some unfinished work that needs to be done," said Gibson.

Both, emphasizing the importance of safety for their students.

"This isn't just, you know, a sidewalk, just because we want a sidewalk," said Wilson. "It's a sidewalk because I don't want a student to get hit."

WINK News reached out to the county to see if it plans to build their part of the sidewalk in the near future, but the communications director reiterated that it is not in the budget.