District, city officials work to brighten bus stops

CAPE CORAL, Fla. — City officials and officials from Lee County Public Schools are working together to ensure that all of the bus stops here are lit by a lamp post to make students safer in the early mornings and evenings.

Of the 5,000 stops in Cape Coral, only about 30 percent were lit until about four months ago when the collaborative effort began, school board member Don Armstrong told The News-Press. Now, about 80 percent of stops in the city are lit, and Armstrong is hoping for all of them to be lit by the end of the 2011-12 school year.

Officials are moving stops from unlit spots to be located at light poles. (Robert Morgan, transportation director for the district, has been working with Armstrong and Cape Coral Councilman Kevin McGrail on rerouting and coordinating bus stops for safety and efficiency.)

In the end, stops that remain unlit will have a light pole installed at a cost of $200 per pole, plus the cost of electricity in a 10-year contract with Lee County Electric Cooperative.

McGrail told the news source that he’s hoping to get grant funding through the state's Safe Routes to School program to cover the cost.