LEHIGH ACRE, Fla. — The Lee Board of County Commissioners with the Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District authorized Lee County to develop, operate and maintain a 6-mile-long linear park along the northern side of Able Canal in Lehigh Acres.
The linear park will include a shared-use pathway with connections to Harns Marsh, Lehigh Acres Park/Barbara Farrell Park, Lehigh Elementary School, and Lehigh Acres Trailhead Park.
The County believes the pathway will foster healthy recreational activities, as well as provide convenient and safe non-motorized access between numerous residential, commercial, recreational, and civic destinations. This could reduce motor vehicle traffic in Lehigh Acres.
Lehigh lacks off-road shared-use pathways through which residents and visitors can commute or recreate via non-motorized means of travel such as on foot or using a bicycle.
The only documented off-road shared-use pathway in this part of the County is a 0.5-mile one located at Lehigh Acres Trailhead Park, and it provides very little benefit to bicyclists.
An additional benefit of this project is that it has the potential to reduce the number of motorized vehicles that use the roadways within Lehigh Acres. Consequently, this part of the County may benefit from reduced traffic congestion.
