Midpoint Memorial Bridge
Encyclopedia
The Midpoint Memorial Bridge (also locally known as the Midpoint Bridge) is a bridge located in Southwest Florida
Southwest Florida
Southwest Florida is a region of Florida , United States located along its gulf coast, south of the Tampa Bay area, west of Lake Okeechobee and mostly north of the Everglades...

. It spans the Caloosahatchee River
Caloosahatchee River
The Caloosahatchee River is a river on the southwest Gulf Coast of Florida in the United States, approximately long. It drains rural areas on the northern edge of the Everglades northwest of Miami...

, connecting Fort Myers
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 62,298 in the 2010 census, a 29.23 percent increase over the 2000 figure....

 and Cape Coral
Cape Coral, Florida
Cape Coral is a municipality located in Lee County, Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico. Founded in 1957 and developed as a master-planned, pre-platted community, the city grew to a population of 154,305 by the year 2010. With an area of , Cape Coral is the largest city between Tampa and...

. It is a four-lane fixed span one and one-quarter mile long. The bridge is so-named because its placement situates it roughly halfway between the Cape Coral Bridge
Cape Coral Bridge
The Cape Coral Bridge is a bridge located in Southwest Florida. It spans the Caloosahatchee River connecting Fort Myers and Cape Coral. It is made up of two parallel fixed spans, each long....

 to the south, and the Caloosahatchee Bridge
Caloosahatchee Bridge
The Caloosahatchee Bridge is a bridge located in Fort Myers, Florida. It carries U.S. 41 over the Caloosahatchee River, which is where its name comes from. The Bridge has four lanes and is 55 feet tall.The Caloosahatchee Bridge opened in 1962, changing the routing of U.S...

 to the north. It carries County Road 884, which is known as Colonial Boulevard on the Fort Myers Side, and Veterans Parkway on the Cape Coral Side.

The bridge was first proposed in the 1970s, but construction was delayed for many years, largely due to opposition in Fort Myers. After a series of court battles, reaching the Florida Supreme Court, construction began in 1995, and the bridge opened for traffic on October 19, 1997. The bridge's location was considered as possible location of the Cape Coral Bridge
Cape Coral Bridge
The Cape Coral Bridge is a bridge located in Southwest Florida. It spans the Caloosahatchee River connecting Fort Myers and Cape Coral. It is made up of two parallel fixed spans, each long....

 before its current location was determined.

The Midpoint Memorial Bridge was constructed as part of the extension of Colonial Boulevard into Cape Coral
Cape Coral, Florida
Cape Coral is a municipality located in Lee County, Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico. Founded in 1957 and developed as a master-planned, pre-platted community, the city grew to a population of 154,305 by the year 2010. With an area of , Cape Coral is the largest city between Tampa and...

. Before construction, Colonial Boulevard terminated at State Road 867
Florida State Road 867
State Road 867 and Lee County Road 867 together create a roadway in Lee County, Florida, connecting Punta Rassa and Fort Myers, Florida. The entire stretch used to be a State Road, but the southernmost have been redesignated County Road 867...

 (McGregor Boulevard), which runs parallel to the river. In Cape Coral, C.R. 884 (locally known as Veterans Parkway) now terminates at S.R. 78 (Pine Island Road) near Matlacha
Matlacha, Florida
Matlacha is a census-designated place in Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had a total population of 735. It is part of the Cape Coral–Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, and includes an overpass over the intersection with Del Prado Boulevard (County Road 867A). The addition of the Midpoint Memorial Bridge resulted in several ancillary road projects in Fort Myers
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 62,298 in the 2010 census, a 29.23 percent increase over the 2000 figure....

 as well. Colonial Boulevard was widened to six lanes and overpasses were constructed over McGregor Boulevard and at the intersection with U.S. 41.

The bridge is owned by the Lee County Department of Transportation. There is currently a two dollar toll in effect for westbound vehicles only, and there is no toll for eastbound traffic. Florida's statewide "Sunpass
SunPass
SunPass is an electronic toll collection system in use by the State of Florida and was originally created by the Florida Department of Transportation's Florida's Turnpike...

" prepaid electronic toll collection
Electronic toll collection
Electronic toll collection , an adaptation of military "identification friend or foe" technology, aims to eliminate the delay on toll roads by collecting tolls electronically. It is thus a technological implementation of a road pricing concept...

 system is accepted on the Midpoint Bridge, along with Lee County's
Lee County, Florida
Lee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. Located in southwest Florida, the principal cities in the county are Fort Myers and Cape Coral...

 "Leeway" prepaid toll system, which is also used on the Cape Coral Bridge
Cape Coral Bridge
The Cape Coral Bridge is a bridge located in Southwest Florida. It spans the Caloosahatchee River connecting Fort Myers and Cape Coral. It is made up of two parallel fixed spans, each long....

, and the Sanibel Causeway
Sanibel Causeway
The Sanibel Causeway is a causeway in Southwest Florida that spans the San Carlos Bay, connecting Sanibel Island with the Florida mainland in South Fort Myers. The causeway consists of three separate two-lane bridge spans, and two man-made causeway islands, which are located between each of the...

.

On the Cape Coral side of the bridge, there is a replica of the statue from the Marine Corps War Memorial
USMC War Memorial
The Marine Corps War Memorial is a military memorial statue outside the walls of the Arlington National Cemetery and next to the Netherlands Carillon, in Arlington, Virginia, in the United States. The memorial is dedicated to all personnel of the United States Marine Corps who have died in the...

 in Rosslyn, Virginia
Rosslyn, Virginia
Rosslyn is an unincorporated area in Northern Virginia located in the northeastern corner of Arlington County, Virginia, north of Arlington National Cemetery and directly across the Potomac River from Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Rosslyn encompasses the Arlington neighborhoods of North Rosslyn...

 (which is just outside of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

). The statue depicts the six U.S Marines
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

 raising the American flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...

.

On the Fort Myers side, there is a small Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

Memorial.
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