Info about Burnt Store Rd, Punta Gorda area

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by Ruby24

Why is it such a dangerous road? Cause it isn't 4 lanes? or 6? Gosh unless your on an interstate around here in NY most are 2 lane roads.

I know it's kinda creepy when people pass on a 2 lane road I guess I'm just used to it.

I think it's a bit unnerving when I'm driving on an undivided road and people are coming straight at me traveling at high speeds. Alligator Alley used to be that way.

The lanes are only 10 feet in width, so there's little room for error. See this article in the Herald-Tribune archives.

[URL="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1774&dat=20040426&id=1_EeAAAAIBAJ&s jid=-4MEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7057,530121"]Burnt Store Road Sprawl Concerns Officials
[/URL]

[tommy-105]

The road is too narrow, and has no breakdown lanes or paved shoulders. Like Nancy said, there is little room for error for the drivers that are driving too fast already. The road is well known locally for having a lot of wrecks. I've lived in rural areas in the past and am very familiar with driving on two lane country roads. Be careful on this one Ruby! I don't even drive it at night anymore.

Study's have shown that Florida’s rural roads are among the most dangerous in the nation. There have been plans to widen Burnt Store road to four lanes for some time now.

[Ruby24]

Originally Posted by tommy-105

The road is too narrow, and has no breakdown lanes or paved shoulders. Like Nancy said, there is little room for error for the drivers that are driving too fast already. The road is well known locally for having a lot of wrecks. I've lived in rural areas in the past and am very familiar with driving on two lane country roads. Be careful on this one Ruby! I don't even drive it at night anymore.

Study's have shown that Florida’s rural roads are among the most dangerous in the nation. There have been plans to widen Burnt Store road to four lanes for some time now.

We drove it from Cape up through Punta Gourda and could see that it looked like they were planning to widen it. I assume that happened when the economy nose dived.
I do remember being behind a slow truck and my husband wanting to pass and me being very nervous about it. But then again I always get nervous when passing on a two lane.
Thanks for the head's up. There wasn't a lot of traffic on the road when we were there. I don't remember the time of year at this point. Not much there except Burnt Store Marina.
I thought it would be a shorter way to get up to 75 via the Jones Loop exit as I live in the western part of the cape.

[BurntStoreResident]

Originally Posted by Ruby24

Why is it such a dangerous road? Cause it isn't 4 lanes? or 6? Gosh unless your on an interstate around here in NY most are 2 lane roads.

I know it's kinda creepy when people pass on a 2 lane road I guess I'm just used to it.

----------------------------
Gosh, we have interstates here, too.

BSR is twenty miles long, from Route 41 on the outskirts of Punta Gorda to Pine Island Road in Cape Coral. It does (or did) not meet DOT standards and still doesn't as far as I'm concerned because Charlotte County did a patchwork on the edges to widen it. I'd conservatively estimate at least 5 deaths per year. There's no room for a mistake.

It is also a truck route, and cars haul boats on trailers. Huge RV's also make their way down the road. I own an SUV. Let's just say it's close when two SUV's pass one another going in opposite directions.

So, you have a narrow, two lane road where the speed limit is 55. Most, if not all, go at least 65. And if you get behind someone who's either lost or disoriented, well, you know how that is.

Also, there are wooded areas on both sides from which an animal can run out at anytime. You just have to hope the person heading toward you doesn't swerve in YOUR lane to avoid that animal.

People have to KNOW you're in that shopping plaza to go there and you'd better be pretty darned good in order for them to come back again.

[mdwebneck]

I still remember riding my bike both solo and with friends up and down the Burnt Store Road back in the early 80s. There was barely any traffic back then, at least not on the early ride up, maybe a few on the way back from Punta Gorda to Cape Coral, but a dozen cars over a couple dozen miles is a dream for a cyclist.

[larrylifelines]

Of course, now, Old BSR is like that, and is good for cycling...though it doesn't go all the way to Punta Gorda, so you pretty much have to plan on an out-and-back!

[TamRE]

They have been doing road construction on Burnt Store Rd. There many communities in that area: Burnt Store Meadows, Burnt Store Village, Burnt Store Lakes, Burnt Store Marina and other mobile home parks.