Port Aransas South Jetty

Bridge work to continue several years

Expect to see some heavy machinery beside the first bridge on the State Hwy. 361 causeway between Port Aransas and Aransas Pass, and expect to see it for quite some time.

Work is slated to start on rebuilding the bridge this month, under a contract with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The work is being done by Austin Bridge and Road Inc., of Austin.

The bridge work provides a challenge to contractors because of the shallow water under the bridge, said Cliff Bost, a TxDOT spokesman.

"Because the water is so shallow there, they couldn't bring in a work barge. So they're having to build an entire new bridge to work from," Bost said.

"Once they finish one side of the bridge, they'll build a work bridge on the other side and do that work," he said.

The $10.8 million contract to rebuild the bridge could run as long as three years, Bost said, though the contractors expect to finish it earlier.

While the work will affect the traffic flow along the causeway, it will be next year at the soonest before that happens, Bost said.

The bridge is the last to be rebuilt along the causeway with the exception of the Dale Miller Bridge, which crosses the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway at Aransas Pass. Of the five bridges between Port Aransas and Aransas Pass, the Dale Miller Bridge is the only one that provides clearance for larger vessels like tugboats. No date has been set for reconstruction or repair of the Dale Miller Bridge.

Work is still being completed on a bridge at the other end of the causeway. In that case, workers were able to build two outside lanes and divert traffic to them before beginning work on the two inside lanes.