LEE COUNTY, Fla. -- UPDATE: Fox 4 getting a response from the Florida Department of Transportation regarding the newly installed sidewalk in North Fort Myers. They say they are waiting for flood waters to subside before grading certain areas of the sidewalk. It's still an active project and contractors are addressing the flooding issues.
Nearly two months after it was completed, a sidewalk along Tamiami Trail in North Ft. Myers is closed.
"I would say over there is about a foot of water. Over here, two to three feet of water," said Fred Matthews.
Matthews lives along the stretch of Tamiami Trail where the sidewalks were put in, just North of the Del Prado extension.
"It's just not a usable thing, and I don't think I have to use a life jacket to go down a sidewalk, but that's what it looks like."
Construction began a couple months ago, but Fred says he noticed the sidewalk falling a part and flooding even before the most recent batch of showers came through.
"I think what they ought to do is rip all this out, and put it up to grade correctly, we're going to have more rain down here in Florida that's what it does down here is rain," said Matthews.
"As you know, we've had an unusually large amount of rain in a short time," said FDOT Spokesperson JoAnn May. "With the heavy rain lessening now, and the contractor removing some old erosion control methods, like removing a ditch block previously used, the water level should continue to drop or recede."
May adds that it's still an active project and FDOT will make the necessary repairs.
Fred says if the community's tax dollars paid for the sidewalk, they want to be able to use it. "It's your money, my money being spent. When it gets done we want a good job, not some junk job."
Matthews also says he called his county commissioner and state legislator about the issue but has yet to hear back.
