Florida’s recovery from Hurricane Ian, under the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), is continuing to move rapidly, as officials on Wednesday reopened the damaged Sanibel Causeway to residents, over a week ahead of schedule .
Multiple areas of the Sanibel Causeway, connecting Sanibel Island and Captiva to Florida’s mainland, were destroyed in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, the massive Category 4 storm that battered Florida’s west coast. Photos show portions of the bridge completely collapsed and crushed:
Over a week after the hurricane’s landfall, DeSantis announced that they were flying over engineers to rebuild the Sanibel Causeway, and last week, he announced that it was finally open to emergency responders:
On Wednesday, roughly three weeks after the hurricane’s landfall, DeSantis announced the causeway is open to the public.
“Three weeks ago, Hurricane Ian destroyed the Sanibel Causeway in three places, leaving the island of Sanibel isolated. Today, we have re-opened the causeway for our residents after completing temporary repairs more than a week ahead of schedule. Way to go!” he exclaimed:
“Today I’m happy to report that starting at 11 a.m. the Causeway will be reopened for the citizens of Lee County,” DeSantis announced Wednesday morning, adding that they worked with Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to “develop a plan and implement a plan to make the temporary repairs necessary to the Sanibel Causeway, to get people back over there.”
“We had over 100 crews working around the clock, 36,000 work hours to make repairs, and as you see, there’s multiple points across this causeway,” he said, noting that these temporary repairs were completed way ahead schedule.
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DeSantis added that his administration is “going to continue to work with the county on plans for permanent repairs to the causeway.”
The victory follows the quick turnaround for power restoration in the state, as well as the construction of the temporary Pine Island bridge, announced earlier this month.