The new protected bike lanes on State Road 776 are barely broken in, and already they’re the talk of Englewood. Concrete separators now run alongside the lanes, and while the goal is safer cycling, some drivers say the barriers are costing them money. Alex Kovari at Jerry’s Tire and Auto told reporters he’s replaced eight tires on four vehicles after run-ins with the separators, most of them on the passenger side, sometimes both tires at once thanks to the angle of contact.
Not everyone’s concern is rubber and rims. Edward Kinsey, who has run a barbershop along 776 for years, says the tighter layout makes him nervous about emergency vehicles. If an ambulance or fire truck comes through, where do cars go? That’s a real question in a corridor that serves a lot of older residents and visitors. The Florida Department of Transportation says it has not received any formal reports or claims tied to the separators, and the project is still under construction, adding raised medians and reworking turning options from the Charlotte County line to Tangerine Woods Boulevard through next summer.
So what should you do in the meantime? Treat the separators like curbs, not cones. Give them space, slow down near the lane shifts, and check your tires if you feel a hard bump. If you’ve already had a problem, documenting it and filing a report with FDOT keeps it on the record, whether or not the agency has heard about it yet. Have you had a close call or a flat on SR 776 since the separators went in? Let us know.
