Simpler, cheaper option to roundabout

Mar 30, 2026 2 min read

To the editor:

The proposed roundabout at the Periwinkle Way and Causeway Boulevard intersection is the dumbest idea I have ever heard of and I wrote a letter to the Sanibel Planning Department telling them why.

In the first place, it requires a lot of very valuable land that is in short supply. Two, when they built a number in Albany County, New Year, where I live in the summer, there were a lot of occasions where people — particularly the elderly, of which there is an abundant supply around here — drove the wrong way around it causing lots of breaks slamming on and not a few ugly words shouted out the window.

I suggest something a lot simpler and cheaper: Prohibit right turns on Donax Street, say after 3 p.m. Then you only have three intersections to deal with; the one headed toward the lighthouse, the other on Lindgren Boulevard at the point where you turn left to go over the causeway, and in flowing traffic.

The whole system could be managed by traffic lights, which could be handled in person or remotely by camera. I would suggest another light at the intersection of Casa Ybel Road and Periwinkle.

William Brooks

Sanibel