Lee County linear park partially closed for filter marsh installation

FORT MYERS – A segment of Lee County’s premier linear park for cyclists, joggers, inline skaters and dog walkers is temporarily closed for expansion of an environmentally enhancing filter marsh.

Lee County’s Natural Resources Department will be expanding the filter marsh in John Yarbrough Linear Park between Daniels Parkway and Ben C. Pratt / Six Mile Cypress Parkway to improve water quality. The construction has closed this portion of the greenway. The project is expected to be completed in June 2013. The filter marsh helps cleanse urban runoff before it enters the Ten Mile Canal, which flows into Estero Bay.

The park formerly was called Ten Mile Linear Park but in 2009 was renamed in honor of longtime retiring Lee Parks & Recreation Director John Yarbrough, who had been with Lee County for 29 years, nearly 20 of which he headed the department.

The park has paths for skating, bicycling, running, dog-walking and picnicking that parallels Fort Myers’ Ten Mile Canal near Metro Avenue. The completed portions of the park now comprise about six miles. The park is considered a recreational gem in a fast-growing urban area that serves various types of park users.

Portions not involved in the filter marsh project will remain open. Park hours are sunrise to sunset daily.