Drivers are encouraged to detour around the Winkler, Metro and Daniels route between Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center and Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, March 8, while ambulances move all patients from one hospital to the other.

Lee County EMS will coordinate the transportation of patients in as many as 29 vehicles from eight agencies until all patients are in the new hospital. It’s estimated that each ambulance could take as many as 10 round trips.

Suggested detours to avoid the patient transfer traffic pattern include: Use Hansen instead of Winkler; use Veronica Shoemaker, Plantation and US 41 instead of Metro; and use Six Mile Cypress instead of Daniels.

Lee Memorial Health Systems anticipates between 200 and 250 patients will need to be transferred as Southwest closes its doors permanently at 7 a.m. March 8 and moves its services to Gulf Coast.

Traffic delays may be abundant all day and into the evening as ambulances repeatedly travel Winkler, Metro and Daniels carefully and quickly moving all the ill and injured patients.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Department will have most lights on Metro Parkway pre-set to flash yellow north and south and flash red for east-west traffic intersecting Metro. In addition, officer will be present at intersections where lights are not set to flash to prevent traffic back ups and ambulance delays.

Regular EMS operations will continue with a slightly smaller crew than on most Sundays, but there will be no reduction in services.