Marco Island's Painted Signal Boxes Are Coming Down, Corner by Corner

"Get out there and find them because they are all unique," City Council Vice Chairman Jared Grifoni told a council meeting on Sept. 9, 2020, according to the Marco Eagle. The city had just finished wrapping 11 utility boxes around the island in artwork chosen through the "Creative Wraps" project.

Six years later, the City of Marco Island is replacing the traffic signal cabinets under that art, and the wraps come off with them. The work follows a published intersection schedule, so each wrapped corner now has a date for its cabinet swap. The last of those corners are on San Marco Road, set for the first week of December.

A Six-Year Run on Vinyl Meant for Three or Four

The wraps were never meant to be permanent. In its Oct. 20, 2026 announcement, the City said they had outlasted their expected three- to four-year lifespan. The cabinets beneath them are older still. The equipment being replaced dates to about 2005.

The project started with the City's Beautification Advisory Committee. City Council approved the art wrap proposal in December 2019, as the Marco Eagle reported at the time. Committee member Becky Irwin said she suggested the idea. Fellow member Shelli Connelly carried it through, arranging the manufacture and installation and bringing in the Marco Island Center for the Arts to source the artwork.

Irwin called the result "the culmination of a successful public-private partnership for the benefit of all our citizens," in an email quoted by the Marco Eagle. That split shows up in the costs. The city estimated $13,858 for sanding and sealing the boxes, printing the vinyl and installing it. Local donors paid the artists.

190 Entries, Judged Without Names

The call to artists went out in early 2020 and ran Feb. 3 through March 29. According to the Marco Eagle's preview of the call, it was open to a range of media and subjects: local points of interest, wildlife, abstract work and inspirational imagery. It first asked for art for 10 boxes.

The response was far larger than the number of boxes. Coastal Breeze News reported 53 artists submitting 190 works. The selection panel included local officials, Center for the Arts representatives, committee advisers and community members, and the final count grew to 11 boxes. Irwin told the Marco Eagle that judges picked the work without knowing who the artists were. Each of the 11 winners received $1,000, which came entirely from local donors.

Of 190 entries, about one in 17 ended up on a curb. Most of the winning designs are Marco subjects: snowy egrets, burrowing owls, manatees, a sea turtle, the Jolley Bridge. The roster was Amanda Grodman, Danielle Connelly, Debra Reed, Jim Freeman, Jo-Ann Sanborn, Joe Parisi, Joey Waves, Kelly Reark, Larae Jones, Tara O'Neill and Wanda Coady.

The Order the Cabinets Come Out

The City's tentative schedule covers 10 intersections, starting Oct. 26 at North Collier Boulevard and East Elkcam Circle and ending Dec. 4 at San Marco Road and Barfield Drive. Each corner takes two workdays. Crews first install a temporary cabinet, then come back to switch the signal to the permanent one.

Most of the 2020 wraps stand at corners on that schedule. All dates are the City's tentative 2026 dates and may change because of weather, field conditions or construction progress.

Every scheduled date for the first four corners, the last being Nov. 9 at Bald Eagle Drive, has now passed. The rest are still ahead. Joe Parisi's snowy egrets at Kendall Drive come up first, on Friday, Nov. 13. Joey Waves' tiki hut at the Collier and San Marco crossing follows the next week, then Wanda Coady's sea turtle at Winterberry. The Winterberry corner is the closest of the wraps to the Marco Island Center for the Arts, the organization that ran the competition, at 1010 Winterberry Drive.

San Marco Road comes last. Debra Reed's burrowing owls at Cushing Lane and Jo-Ann Sanborn's palm trees at Barfield Drive are the final two wraps on the schedule, set for Dec. 2 through Dec. 4. San Marco Road at Heathwood Drive, scheduled with Winterberry on Nov. 23 and 24, is also on the schedule, though it isn't among the 2020 wrap locations.

Two of the original 11 wraps sit at corners that aren't on the City's 2026 schedule. They are Jim Freeman's photo of driftwood on a local beach at Bald Eagle Drive and San Marco Road, and Larae Jones' Jolley Bridge at North Collier Boulevard and North Barfield Drive.

Some of the art will survive the project. The City says it has worked with the artists, and some will keep their decorated cabinets. WINK News reported the same, calling the wraps "a community staple for six years."

What the New Cabinets Do at the Same Corners

The new cabinets change how these intersections work, especially for anyone crossing on foot. The biggest change is a leading pedestrian interval. Pedestrians get a head start of about seven seconds before cars going the same direction get a green light, so they're already in the crosswalk and easier for turning drivers to see.

That matters most at the corners people cross to reach things. Veterans Community Park, at 901 Park Ave., hosts the Marco Island Farmers Market on Wednesdays from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., including Nov. 18, Nov. 25 and Dec. 2. Nov. 18 is also the City's tentative date to switch over the permanent cabinet at North Collier Boulevard and San Marco Road.

According to the City, the new equipment also adds:

• Remote monitoring, so staff can spot signal malfunctions faster and coordinate repairs.
• Emergency vehicle preemption, which lets properly equipped emergency vehicles request priority at a signal while responding to a call.
• Traffic data collection, giving the City better vehicle counts for future transportation decisions.

On each scheduled workday, the signal at that corner is expected to be out for several hours while contractor flaggers direct traffic. The City asks drivers to slow down, follow the flaggers, watch for workers and pedestrians, allow extra time and use other routes when practical. Schedule changes are posted on the City of Marco Island and Marco Island Police Department Facebook pages.

For anyone who wants a last look, the route is short. Start at Kendall Drive and drive south on Collier Boulevard to San Marco Road and Winterberry Drive, then head east on San Marco to Cushing Lane and Barfield Drive. Going in that order also follows the schedule, so the corners due for work soonest come first.

Maria Oddy keeps track of island details like this cabinet schedule for clients who split their time between Marco Island and somewhere else. If you're away this season and want to know how these corners look when you get back, or want to talk about your own plans on the island, Maria is glad to help. Schedule a Consultation whenever it suits you.