Family moves into hotel for week to escape Wilson Pigott Bridge delays

BABCOCK RANCH, Fla. (WINK) — A Babcock Ranch family rented a hotel room for the week to avoid unpredictable traffic caused by the Wilson Pigott Bridge closure.

Lisa Pignataro's commute ranges from Port Charlotte to Marco Island. While most people in the area are choosing to leave earlier or get home later, Pignataro wanted to remove the unpredictable traffic from her commute altogether.

Pignataro and her daughter, Gabby, stayed home Monday. The travel time was longer and more unpredictable than expected.

WINK News introduced viewers to the family yesterday when they got stuck in traffic so bad they decided to turn around and work from home. WINK News reporter Brinkley Hill followed up with the family about the extreme actions they're taking to avoid the wait times.

With time ticking down until meetings started, Pignataro decided working from home was better than continuing to wait. Ten days of working from home was not an option.

Pignataro and her husband packed their bags and rented a hotel room in Fort Myers for the week. She said not everyone can remove themselves from the long wait times, but for her family, it was the right choice.

Leaving their cats with family and heading to a hotel was worth it for a shorter commute to take her daughter to school and get to work in Naples.

"We absolutely need to be able to get out and on time to get to the things that we need to get to outside of Babcock Ranch," Pignataro said. "So there really can't be any delays or unpredictability there."

Pignataro said she hopes the bridge work can be finished quickly so their hotel stay is short-term. The family will come home this weekend and reevaluate whether they will stay at a hotel to start next week while the bridge work continues.