County board extends toll waiver on Sanibel Causeway
The Lee County Board of County Commissioners recently approved extending the suspension of tolls on the Sanibel Causeway for the remainder of the Sundays in September, along with one Saturday.
At its Sept. 5 meeting, the board voted unanimously 5-0 to waive the collection of tolls for three additional days — Sept. 17, Sept. 23 and Sept. 24. The commission first voted in August to suspend the causeway tolls each Sunday from Aug. 6 through Sept. 10 at the request of the SanCap Chamber.
According to county staff, the Collaboratory extended an offer to reimburse the county for the additional days and lost toll revenue, which is estimated to be about $120,000 to $150,000.
In early August, the SanCap Chamber announced the possibility of an extension, pending approval from the board. It reported that the extension was made possible from a Collaboratory donation.
“We saw immediate heartening success the day the program opened on Sunday, Aug. 6, which led us to urge the county to add more toll-free days,” chamber President and Chief Executive Officer John Lai said in a prepared statement. “Businesses and attractions reported visitor increases of 25 to 200 percent that day, and the causeway reached 6,000 incoming vehicles — the first Sunday since Hurricane Ian where numbers matched last year’s.”
The initial toll waiver was made to coincide with the Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau’s “Savor the Shore” campaign, which the chamber matched with a “Savor SanCap” push. The Sep. 23-24 abatements will take into consideration the VCB’s Island Hopper Songwriter Fest dates on Captiva.
“Our goal was to bring more people across the bay during the remaining days of summer to support the businesses and attractions suffering from hurricane recovery during the slowest part of the year,” Lai said. “It’s so gratifying when a vision of many actually works. So, we’re keeping our foot on the gas to make the most of the foresight of the county, city of Sanibel and Collaboratory. Also, we thank Lamar Advertising for the donation of seven billboards throughout the county advertising toll-free Sundays.”
On the designated days, the tolls are waived from midnight to midnight.
To reach TIFFANY REPECKI / trepecki@breezenewspapers.com, please email