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A Publication of Guidry News Service |
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A Publication of Guidry News Service |
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Texas tourism officials once touted Highway 87 as the "Blue Water Highway", hugging the Southeast Texas Coast as an alternate to US 90 and Interstate 10 for motorists traveling to southern Louisiana. However, ravages of hurricanes have closed Highway 87 between High Island and Sabine Pass. In addition, the bottleneck of a quaint, but slow ferry system between the Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island, have discouraged use of Highway 87. Scott Nowell reports on developments that could restore the Blue Water Highway, but also create a new " superhighway" serving Houston. In 1999, the Texas Department of Transportation began studying proposals for improving transportation between Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula. Tunnels, bridges and expansion of the TxDOT-operated ferry service were all considered. The State Highway 87 Feasibility Study determined that the best option was a four-lane bridge between Pelican Island, just north of Galveston Island, and Bolivar. The cost of the 240-foot high bridge, which would include replacing the drawbridge linking Pelican Island to Harborside Drive on Galveston Island, as well as the ferry service, is estimated at over $230 million. “This is really a Harborside to Bolivar project,” observed Galveston County Engineer Mike Fitzgerald. For TxDOT to build it, Galveston County would have to put up about a quarter of the money, funds that County Judge Jim Yarborough says the county does not have. In 2000, the commissioners court asked TxDOT to determine the best way to build a bridge. According to TxDOT spokesman Norm Wigington, the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) was the only agency available. Although TxDOT determined that building the bridge would eventually save the agency money by scrapping the ferry boats, Wigington said it cannot be done without matching funds from Galveston County. “We can’t afford it, It’s too big a project." In February 2001, Galveston County Commissioners Court passed a resolution, inviting HCTRA to build the bridge, provided it was done at no cost to the county. HCTRA determined that the project would be financially feasible with a $2 per vehicle toll charge, but there are potential legal problems. According to HCTRA Director Mike Strech, it is unclear whether the authority could contribute to a project that is not in its jurisdiction, nor linked to existing roadways in Harris County. Harris County attorneys advised HCTRA that it did not think the toll authority was legally entitled to build the bridge. Strech disagrees, and has asked the Texas Attorney General’s office for an opinion on the issue. In the request last September, Harris County Assistant Attorney Don C. Whitley wrote that the bridge would “…allow traffic from the east to avoid Interstate 10 and Harris County, lessen the burden upon Harris County’s infrastructure, and contribute to air quality. The route would also serve as an additional hurricane evacuation route from the island.” An opinion from the attorney general is due by March 18, 2003. If that opinion is that HCTRA cannot build, Strech says they will ask the Texas Legislature for an amendment to the Texas Transportation Code. The amendment would allow HCTRA to build anywhere in Texas, if invited to do so by the outside county and TxDOT. Strech is confident that his agency will be able to build a toll bridge between Bolivar and Galveston sometime between 2004 and 2010. But there are many questions about the Bolivar project. A HCTRA-operated bridge between Galveston and Bolivar, once built, would place Galveston County residents in a position where they would have little say in the bridge’s operation. HCTRA is controlled by the Harris County Commissioners Court, elected by Harris County voters. The Port of Houston Authority, which owns a large area on Pelican Island, is in favor of the project but prefers a higher bridge. “Our feeling is that the bridge should be 300 feet tall,” said PHA spokesperson Felicia Griffin. While the current bridge plan is 20 feet taller than the tallest cruise ship, Griffin says that for the bridge to be able to handle ship traffic in 50 or 100 years, 300 feet is best. Griffin says the port would likely oppose any bridge that is not at least 250 feet tall because, “Ships will get bigger and taller.” According
to Strech, the port authority plans to build a container
port on Pelican Island, and this is what would make a toll
bridge self-supporting. Projections are that traffic would
need to at least double from the current 6,000 vehicles a
day that cross on the ferry. Much of that increased traffic
would likely come from 18-wheeler traffic originating from
the Pelican Island container port. Strech envisions a shoreline version of I-10, allowing travelers coming to Galveston from the east to avoid Houston. Strech says “Everybody coming from the east could cut off at Winnie.” There are concerns about where all that traffic would go once it exits the four-lane toll bridge. The bridge would be part of Highway 87, a two-lane highway running along the shoreline through Galveston, Chambers and Jefferson counties. During the summer, the Bolivar portion of Highway 87 is already over-crowded with tourist traffic. The road also experiences frequent flooding during storms. Highway 87 is the subject of an erosion study being jointly undertaken by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and Jefferson, Chambers and Galveston counties. The project will study shoreline erosion between San Luis Pass on the west and Sabine Pass on the east. John Johnson, assistant to Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith, notes that a fifteen-mile stretch of Highway 87 in Jefferson County has been closed for 12 years due to shore erosion, and Jefferson County residents wanting to travel to Bolivar or Galveston now have to travel about 50 miles out their way. Johnson says Highway 87 won’t be rebuilt “until erosion problems are addressed.” The erosion study will take at least another year to complete, leaving any future expansion of the Bolivar portion of Highway 87 very much in doubt. Without expansion of Highway 87, critics charge, there is little point in building a four-lane bridge leading into over thirty miles of an erosion–prone two-lane road. But Galveston County Commissioners Court appears to be solidly behind the bridge project, because the potential for economic development on the now-secluded peninsula is enormous. “Any way it can happen is good,” said Commissioner Eddie Barr, who represents peninsula residents on the commissioner’s court.
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