Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge

Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge
The Harbor Bridge crossing into Corpus Christi
Coordinates	27°48′46″N 97°23′43″W
Carries	6 lanes of US 181 and   SH 35
Crosses	Port of Corpus Christi
Locale	Corpus Christi, Texas
Official name	Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge
Characteristics
Design	Through arch bridge
Height	243 ft
Longest span	620 ft.
Clearance below	138 ft
History
Opened	1959
Statistics
Toll	none
Location

The Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge is a through arch bridge located in Corpus Christi, Texas which carries six lanes of US 181 from downtown Corpus Christi to Rincon Point, known to locals as North Beach. The harbor bridge crosses the Corpus Christi Ship Channel and handles nearly 26,000 vehicles daily. A new bridge called the New Harbor Bridge is currently under construction. When complete it will allow larger ships to pass beneath, permit safer pedestrian transit, and reconfigure the entire highway interchange system in the surrounding community.

History

Geography
The entire bay ecosystem is protected from the Gulf Of Mexico by barrier islands. Mustang Island and San Jose Island are the two principal landmasses that shield the Aransas and Corpus Christi Bays from the wider Gulf Of Mexico. Inland from Corpus Christi Bay is Nueces Bay, the outlet for the Nueces River. The Nueces and Corpus Christi bays are separated by a sandbar anchored on the south end by Rincon Point peninsula and Indian Point peninsula on the north. Just south of Rincon Point was a small natural channel called Hall's Bayou.

Hall's Bayou Bridge
In the 1880s a small wooden bridge was erected over Hall's Bayou, then little more than a muddy slough, to allow access to Rincon Point.

Bascule Bridge
A 1920s era federal Rivers and Harbors Act authorized dredging a channel 25 feet deep and 200 feet wide from the Gulf Of Mexico, through Aransas Pass and on into Hall's Bayou. Dredging was completed and the port was opened, in 1926. The Act also authorized the construction of a 121 foot long, 52 foot wide bascule-type drawbridge. The bridge was built by the Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Company. Upon completion it was painted black and coated in grease to inhibit corrosion. Bridge operations were complex, consisting of whistled signals between approaching ships and bridge operators. Every ship transit took 20 minutes or more and stopped vehicular traffic for as many as 30 times each day.

Harbor Bridge
By the 1950s the Bascule bridge was a significant traffic bottleneck. As part of the nationwide interstate highway system, Congress authorized funding for IH-37 through Corpus Christi. This included money for the construction of a new bridge to be elevated over the channel at a height sufficient to allow the passage of ships without stopping vehicular traffic. In 1959 the current Harbor Bridge was completed, allowing ships with a maximum above-waterline height of 138 feet to pass underneath and use a wider portion of the channel than the previous drawbridge. It also included two narrow pedestrian walkways between the bridge railing and the outermost lane of traffic in each direction. Originally designed with a 50-year lifespan, the bridge will remain in service until its replacement is done in 2020/21. Thereafter, the bridge is slated for demolition.

2020 Harbor Bridge

The Corpus Christi 2020 Harbor Bridge Under Construction in 2019

In 2008 Local, State, and Federal authorities began the replacement process. The 2020 Harbor Bridge will be a cable-stayed suspension bridge with a 1,661 feet span, rising to a height of 538 feet at the peak of each support pylon. The bridge will allow passage of ships up to 205 feet above-waterline height. The concrete construction technique used for bridge segments have a 170-year estimated life. Construction was originally slated to finish in 2020. On October 15, 2019, it was announced that the Harbor Bridge would not be completed until 2023. On November 15, 2019, design activities on the new Harbor Bridge were suspended by The Texas Department of Transportation. In a statement, the Texas Department of Transportation says it asked Flatiron Dragados, the firm building the bridge, to suspend the design activities.

Current bridge

New lighting

A new LED lighting system was unveiled to the public on December 4, 2011, at a public lighting ceremony held at Whataburger Field. The $2.2 million project was a joint venture between the City of Corpus Christi, the Port of Corpus Christi, the Texas Department of Transportation, and American Bank. The lighting system comprises more than 950 Philips Color Kinetics fixtures, and has over 11,000 individually addressable RGB nodes.

Incidents

In 2013 two men and one woman died in unrelated incidents after jumping off the bridge.

References

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