CAPE CORAL, Fla. — People living on NE 15th St in Cape Coral said they’re fed up with the potholes on their street. But the city said they’ll have to wait years before they repave that road.
John Howell has lived on NE 15th St for five years now, and he said potholes have covered the road as long as he’s lived there. He’s asking the city to repave it entirely nstead of continuing to fill individual holes.
“Why can’t you just come in here and make our lives just a little bit more convenient. It’s not that big of a deal!” he said. “It can’t cost that much money to drop a pile of tar on the road and roll it out and pave it down.”
Maureen Buice with the City of Cape Coral said the cost isn’t the key factor in repaving the road, she said since it comes from the city’s general fund. But, she said repaving it now would mean doing the same thing all over again once the Utilities Extension Project (UEP) is complete in Howell’s neighborhood.
The UEP includes installing new water lines, sewer lines and irrigation lines. The city’s currently working on that project in a nearby neighborhood.
“It wouldn’t make good financial sense right now for the city to resurface these streets now just to tear them out in another two years,” said Buice.
Howell said he feels overlooked because other roads in Cape Coral have recently gotten repaved.
“It is not fair for us to have to pay the taxes just like somebody across the street in a good neighborhood has got to pay taxes, the same taxes that I’m paying. And his roads are better than ours,” he said.
He’s referring to neighborhood streets like on Hancock Bridge Pkwy that have recently gotten repaved. But Buice said that part of town doesn’t need the UEP.
“Hancock Bridge Parkway already has the proper utilities installed, so we won’t be tearing out any streets in that area, which is why that area would be paved,” she said.
The city said the UEP could start in Howell’s neighborhood by the end of 2021 and could take a couple years to complete.
