Construction worker killed in crash; southbound US-41 bridge was closed for hours

A crash killed a construction worker as he crossed US-41 in Port Charlotte on Wednesday morning.

The crash brought traffic to a standstill causing the southbound lanes of the US-41 bridge out of Port Charlotte into Punta Gorda to shut down for hours.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, an 18-year-old man from North Port was driving a car south in the left lane of US-41, south of Main Street, around 6:45 a.m.

A 50-year-old man from Englewood was attempting to cross west over the southbound US-41 travel lanes when he entered the path of the car and was struck.

The construction worker was pronounced dead at the scene. The crash remains under investigation.

The crash happened right next door to the construction work at the Sunseeker Resort.

The man was crossing the street to start his workday on the site.

Allegiant and Suffolk Construction, the companies behind the Sunseeker Resort, declined to comment about the loss of one of their workers.

A woman who works the early morning shift at the gas station nearby said the man who died was a regular of hers.

He went into the gas station to order his usual cup of coffee and was crossing the roadway to get back to work.

“It’s really sad because we see him every day, you know, for like, since they started working on this like three, four months ago,” said Mary Lou Dykstra, who works at the gas station. “We like know all of those guys.”

She didn’t realize her regular was the victim until a trooper came inside and asked to watch their surveillance video, she said.