Ferry operations will operate “at full capacity” during Spring Break, a time of year when Port Aransas commonly is flooded with traffic.
That’s the word from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the agency that runs the ferry system.
Most Texas schools will observe Spring Break March 14 to 20. Many students and their families traditionally visit Port Aransas during Spring Break.
“TxDOT’s Port Aransas ferry operations plans to operate at full capacity and is prepared to respond to any surge in late-night traffic,” said a news release issued by TxDOT.
Ferry traffic in the past has spiked at night as visitors have left the beach and headed out of town.
Due to coronavirus restrictions, ferry operations won’t offer golf cart shuttle service between the park-and-ride lot and the Harbor Island ferry landings, according to the news release.
TxDOT also has taken special measures to keep traffic flowing on the JFK Causeway bridge.
The four-lane bridge in recent weeks has been narrowed to two lanes because of a $9 million maintenance project that will continue for months to come.
TxDOT and its contractor, Gibson & Associates Inc., has moved traffic control barriers in order to reopen the bridge to its standard four-lane configuration.
The four-lane traffic pattern is scheduled to continue until the week of March 21, when the contractor will begin replacing barriers to resume work on the deck and approaches of the bridge.
TxDOT’s plans for the ferry system and bridge are two prongs in what the agency’s news release called “a three-pronged traffic initiative in advance of the increased traffic anticipated for Spring Break 2022 in the Coastal Bend.”
The third prong involves “minimizing main lane closures on all major corridors” in the 10-county TxDOT Corpus Christi District beginning Monday, March 7 through Sunday, March 20,” the release said.
The counties are Aransas, Bee, Goliad, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kleberg, Live Oak, Nueces, Refugio and San Patricio.
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