MIAMI — Hours before Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that emergency road and bridge repairs to Pine Island had been completed ahead of schedule Wednesday, cheers and a little laughter greeted some of the first motorists to cross a temporary bridge built to restore access by land to the island, which took much of the brunt from Hurricane Ian.
Work on the bridge that connects Matlacha to Pine Island began Monday, and Florida Department of Transportation crews finished the repairs in less than three days, DeSantis and FDOT Secretary Jared W. Perdue said in an FDOT statement from Tallahassee.
“Within 24 hours after I asked FDOT to get involved, we had more than 130 trucks rolling in and crews got to work,” DeSantis said in the statement. “We made it a priority and we didn’t just get it done — we got it done quick. I want to thank the dedicated FDOT crews for working around the clock to restore the community’s access to Pine Island.”
