MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. — A Brevard County man who was hit while riding his bike wants to make it safer for others crossing a busy bridge in Brevard County.

What You Need To Know

  • Michael Wappler says it’s dangerous to walk or bike across the State Road 520 bridge from Cocoa to Merritt Island

  • He says the shoulder and concrete pathway are too narrow on the Brevard County bridge

  • Officials with the Florida Department of Transportation say that when the bridge was built in the 60s, it wasn’t designed to have dedicated bike lanes

  • They says bicyclists need to share the road with drivers or use the shoulder or concrete pathway

Michael Wappler was hit while riding his bike a half mile from his home in Merritt Island back in June.

“I’m driving down the bike lane and the guy plows into me,” he said, adding that the driver took off after the crash on Courtney Parkway.

Wappler suffered a broken sternum and ribs.

Now he says he’s focused on getting better, but since he doesn’t drive a car, that means he has to walk or bike to physical therapy in Cocoa. Getting to Cocoa from Merritt Island means going over the State Road 520 bridge.

It’s trying to cross the bridge why Wappler reached out to Spectrum News.

“(The driver) was inches within hitting me and it’s crazy,” he said while walking along the 520 bridge.

Wappler said drivers go by too fast and the elevated sidewalk and the right shoulder are too narrow and too close to the vehicle lanes.

When Spectrum News asked the Florida Department of Transportation about the problem, communications manager Matthew Richardson said when the bridge, known as Hubert Humphrey Causeway, opened in 1969 it wasn’t designed to have dedicated bike lanes.

Instead, he said bicyclists need to share the road with drivers, staying as close to the right of the road as possible, or use either the shoulder or the raised concrete pathway, which is used mostly by pedestrians.

The only way to add a bike path on the bridge, according to Richardson, is for FDOT to reconstruct the bridge, but he said it’s still got 20 more years before that’s needed.

Wappler sometimes relies on rides or taking an Uber to get to physical therapy, but said it would be a lot better for his health and wallet if he could walk or bike there.

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