Signs of the times in Cape Coral
Months after Hurricane Ian shredded through Cape Coral, the city's public works department is righting the octagonal red STOP signs, straightening black and gold yield signs and making certain deliveries arrive at the right spots.
The city maintains tens of thousands of metal road signs in its 119 square miles, including stop, yield, and directional signs.
"We don’t have exact numbers, but we continue to assess the damage and plan to fully recover the signage infrastructure in full," said City Spokeswoman Melissa Mickey.
Everywhere a sign
There are 57,000 traffic signs throughout the city, and Hurricane Ian damaged 45,600 − 80% − of them. The winds, a near-Category 5, and storm surge warped, felled or otherwise bent signs from one end of the city to the other.
A whole lot of stopping
The damaged signs included 8,000 stop signs, of which 3,219 still need repairs. The city didn't have an immediate breakdown on the remaining types of signs.
A little help from friends
Crews from Broward County and Pompano Beach joined the city's public works department in making the repairs.
"They are helping as part of mutual aid donating crews to assist us in repairing and replacing street signs," Mickey said.
Typically, counties through Florida respond to help their contemporaries recover when hurricanes take aim, receiving help when it's their turn.
Cost not tallied; wrap up unknown
The timeframe and costs of repairing all the signs were not available as of Jan 23.
Cape Coral Public Works explains signsSign-a-palooza: More than 57,000 street signs aid navigation in Cape Coral
Cape Coral traffic sign crew membersBehind the scenes with Cape Coral's traffic signs crew members
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Cape Coral working to fix signs damaged by Ian
