City leaders encourage distance between residents, travelers as Sanibel Island roads reopen to public

(WSVN) – There’s been steady traffic entering and exiting Sanibel Island as the community continues to rebuild since Hurricane Ian.

Now, officials are opening the island to the public, but some locals are on-edge.

“[The city] is not ready in my opinion,” said one resident of the island.

After months of re-entry passes, and checkpoints, Sanibel Island is open, but not necessarily for business.

“Earlier there was, I noticed it has picked up a little bit too. So there’s a lot of people coming down and checking it out,” said Harold Mullin, one of the visitors to the island.

Despite visitors leaving and entering the island, city leaders are still encouraging travelers to give islanders space and allow people the time to rebuild.

Mullin set up his beach chair off the island.

“We didn’t want to cram anything up because I know people have gone through a lot down here and we just don’t want to be in the way of anything,” he said.

A curfew is still in place for Sanibel Island and, between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., passes will be required to cross the bridge.

The toll on the bridge has also been reinstated.

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