Mounting concerns over dangerous Cape Coral intersection

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – Hector Posada knows all too well the dangers of the intersection at Del Prado Boulevard and Southeast 44th Street in Cape Coral.

About a year ago, he says he and his sister were on 44th trying to cross Del Prado, when…

“Apparently there was a car coming in ’cause cars speed in there everyday, going way too fast, then it just hit us from the side and it was really bad. The car flipped, took out the stop sign, we landed on the stop sign, my head hit the window it broke the window,” Posada told WINK News.

Andy Aurelio owns 44th Street Barber Shop right next to the intersection. He says over the past seven years he’s seen at least a dozen crashes just like Posada’s, including one on Wednesday.

“There was a gentleman I believe tying to cut across, and then there was somebody going straight, he didn’t see, and then ‘boom’ right into each other… I’ve had the shop a long time and we’ve just seen it over and over again, accident after accident here,” said Aurelio.

According to police, there’s been five crashes at the intersection over the past 12 months. A motorcyclist was killed there in 2012.

The trouble lies in the rare ability for cars to turn left onto Del Prado, one of Cape Coral’s busiest thoroughfares, without a stoplight. The median is narrow, and there’s also visibility issues. Many say a bench and electric pole block the view of cars driving south, and bushes make it hard to see cars going north.

“It’s almost impossible to make that clean without possibly being hit,” said Aurelio.

“I feel like there should be a light over there to make it more safe,” said Posada.

Right now, there’s no word from the city on any plans to make a change.