Rerouting the Intra-Coastal Waterway
(Click on map to enlarge, Click on the icon in the map's corner to enlarge more)

Currently the only way boat traffic, which consists mostly of tug-driven barges, in the Brownsville Shipping Channel can enter the Intra-coastal is to thread between Port Isabel and Long Island through a swing bridge and make a right-angle turn to pass under the Causeway to South Padre Island. It was failure to execute this maneuver that caused the collapse of the Causeway in 2002--an event costing eight lives and untold millions of dollars in repairs and economic impact.

For some time now the County has been engaged in an attempt  to remedy the situation by re-routing the traffic into the Laguna Madre around to the east of Long Island. Some of this route is already in place since it is the way other traffic (shrimp boats, for example) passes through  the jetties into the Gulf. The firm of Pat Younger Associates, working for the County, is spearheading the project on the State and Federal levels. On 6 April the firm's President, Pat Younger, and Judge Hinojosa made an interim report to a group of citizens gathered on Long Island.

Residents of Long Island have another reason for backing the re-routing. It is these people who pay the maintenance and operating cost of a 'swing bridge' which constitutes their only way off and onto the Island. Today's swing bridge has been operating almost continuously since the 1950s when it provided the only access to the old causeway from Long Island onto South Padre Island. These residents as well as those of Port Isabel are also conscious of the fact that the cargoes which thread through the narrow channel so close to their homes often consist of hazardous chemicals and fuels. The swing bridge is pictured at the right when it was a toll bridge before the opening of the 'new' causeway in 1974. The photo was on an old postcard and the photographer was Don R. Bartels.

After describing the arduous steps involved in shepherding the project through a variety of government entities, Ms Younger stated that it would be 2008 or 9 before construction could be expected to start. After that, Long Island and Port Isabel can consider closing the current passage to commercial traffic and retiring the ancient swing bridge.      Return to Home Page