Fort Myers school pickup chaos: Parent pushes for one-way road fix

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) — A parent has sounded the alarm to WINK News about a downtown Fort Myers road that gets packed with parents trying to pick up their children from school, made worse by the fact that the road turns into a one-way during certain times.

Roxanne Steele is religious about getting in the parent pickup line every day. Her daughter goes to St. Francis Xavier Catholic School on Cottage St., just off MLK Boulevard, across from the Lee County Justice Center.

"School gets out at 2:57ish, and most of us are in line at 2:30," Steel said.

Steel says the problem is that Cottage St. turns into a one-way road from 7:30 to 8:15 a.m. and 3 to 3:30 p.m. for school drop-off and pickup. But says drivers don't pay attention to the one-way sign alerting them to the direction change.

"I'd say 2:45-2:50 people are all backed up on MLK, blaring their horns, truck drivers, because they can't get around," Steel said. "There's a police department right there. The congestion on that road on MLK is crazy, and it's all backed up."

Another problem is drivers not being there for school pickup, getting caught up in the congestion, and thinking it's just a traffic backup.

"They'll wait for half an hour, and then they'll be like, Oh, this is what I'm in this line for," Steel said. "I've gone up and knocked on their door or window and said, You guys can go around. It's a school pickup."

WINK News drove down Cottage St. to see how bad the traffic really gets. Right at 2:30 p.m., the line of parents in their cars waiting to pick up their children from St. Francis was already long. It got hectic just before the street turned into a one-way.

Steel's idea to help with all of this is to make the road one-way at all times.

"So I kind of complained one time, and a teacher said, Well, this is what we have to work with, this one-way sign during this time," Steel said. "And I said, Well, I'm going to do my best to see what I can do to fix it, because I don't like to complain about something and then not have an action after that."

WINK News took that idea to the City of Fort Myers. A spokesperson said if this request came in, the city would have to look at logistics, how many properties would be affected and the overall impact on traffic.

That process could take years.

"So even though my daughter won't even be there, maybe when it does get turned into, hopefully, a one-way, I still want to put forth the effort to try to get it to be helpful for everybody," Steel said.

WINK News sent Steel the link to submit to the city her idea of Cottage St. being transitioned into a one-way road all the time. The city would have to work with St. Francis Xavier to adjust the timing on the one-way road.

WINK News also alerted Fort Myers Police about the traffic backup in that area during school hours.

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