Trees removed along Cape Coral Parkway
Part of project to expand roadway to six lanes
The removal of the oak trees along Cape Coral Parkway began Wednesday morning.
Joshua Tree Inc., subcontracted by Back Bay Construction, began removing the 33 southern live oaks along the parkway as part of an ongoing public safety and infrastructure improvement initiative.
The large-scale removal begin at 7 a.m. and is expected to “take a few days” to complete.
The work began near 1331 Cape Coral Parkway E. along what is one of Cape Coral’s busiest and most visible corridors, now being expanded to six-lanes in advance of the construction of the new two-span Cape Coral Bridge.
City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn said trees are only allowed to be so close to the edge of the right-of-away before they become a safety issue and must be removed.
The decades-old oaks had lined street-side parking, which is now being converted into a traffic lane,
“The parking space served as a buffer from the edge of the travel way,” he said during Wednesday night’s city council meeting.
Ilczyszyn said they discussed working with the Community Redevelopment Agency once the project is completed to look at replacement trees to be planted further away from the edge of the street.
“We are working on a solution to replace trees in the downtown area that are coming out. If there are 40 trees removed — I don’t know the number — then there will be 40 trees replaced,” Ilczyszyn said.
They won’t be replaced with southern live oaks.
“These trees are a perfect example of the wrong tree in the wrong place,” said Ryan Ishley, ISA Certified Arborist with Joshua Tree Inc. “Southern live oaks thrive in large open environments, but when planted in narrow urban corridors, root conflicts with sidewalks and roadways become unavoidable over time.
“These trees were planted many years ago, and they’re in an extremely confined area basically within the sidewalk and infrastructure.”
Ishley said these live oak trees, which he appreciates were planted 20 to 30 years ago and are now 30 feet tall, live about 350 years, with their canopy ranging anywhere from 75 to 125 feet wide with a root patterns matching that span.
“As they grow bigger, the root system expands out and it starts pressing up against infrastructure, which here in this case, is pavers. You’ve got your curbing, and then you have all of the black top, the roadway, and really whatever utilities are mixed in.”
Ishley said at times, root pruning can help, but that in this case, with the trees they are removing, the trees are so confined that they cannot perform mitigation and that the best long-term result would be removal.
Ishley said there is a trip hazard in the removal area, as some of the pavers are facing “upward” making an uneven surface.
The trees will be taken to a horticulture facility, sent through a grinder, and then recycled.
“They grind them up, put them in piles, and turns it back into soil,” Ishley said.
When asked what tree would be a better fit for the area, Ishley said a more “ornamental” tree that wouldn’t cause damage within the root system itself.
Ishley added, “I’ve been an arborist for 22 years, and I love what I do, and sometimes we have to perform these removals. It’s important to actually understand the ‘why’ that’s behind it. Some things can be mitigated, and some things cannot be mitigated. It’s important to not just have some tree guy out there, but someone with experience and educated with the trees.”
All 33 trees were expected to be removed in two to three days.
The removal is part of the Cape Coral Parkway East improvement project which city officials say will keep traffic in the South Cape moving safely and efficiently by expanding the parkway East to six continuous lanes between Coronado Parkway and Del Prado Boulevard.
The project includes resurfacing and re-striping the pavement between Triton Court East and just west of Cape Coral Street/Southeast 15th Avenue; removing the existing median between Triton Court East and Manor Court and constructing a longer turn lane; installing nine new signal heads on existing signal poles and mast arms; rewiring eight signalized intersections between Chiquita Boulevard and Del Prado Boulevard; installing additional signage to improve traffic guidance; removing the 33 oak trees within the clear distance of the new travel lanes for safety and replacing curb and gutter and paver sidewalks along the newly expanded travel lanes.
Although street parking along Cape Coral Parkway will be eliminated for the widening of the road, there will be no loss in terms of total spaces because other parking options have been added, officials said.
The project cost is $2.37 million and is anticipated to be completed in the fall.
Meanwhile, construction on the new Cape Coral Bridge, which connects Cape Coral Parkway in the city to College Parkway in south Fort Myers, is expected to begin in 2028.
The Lee Board of County Commissioners approved two measures advancing the project last August.
A new eastbound bridge will first be built south of the current eastbound bridge and will temporarily provide two lanes in each direction to maintain current travel conditions. Once traffic shifts to the new eastbound bridge, both existing bridges will be demolished. A new westbound bridge will then be built to the north of the existing bridges. Each new bridge will accommodate three lanes of traffic and include a shared-use path. Four lanes of traffic will remain open throughout construction.
A video of the planned improvements and more information about the Cape Coral Bridge may be found at capecoralbridgeproject.com.
Meghan Bradbury contributed to this report.