Tentative deal reached on funding Pelican Island bridge
A revised proposal to replace an aging drawbridge connecting Galveston and Pelican Island is closer than ever to coming to fruition, offering renewed potential for long-sought economic development.
Galveston County and city of Galveston officials have reached a tentative agreement to fund an $89 million version of the longdelayed bridge. It calls for a conventional 75-foot span with four lanes, as well as pedestrian and bicycle crossings.
Efforts to replace the bridge have been hindered by a lack of funds and disagreements over long-term responsibility for maintenance and operations. County and city officials have insisted that a new bridge is vital to the future of Pelican Island, a largely undeveloped swath of waterfront land that officials believe has great potential for industrial use and as a deepwater port.
City and county officials recently agreed the county would take over local sponsor responsibilities for four to six years before transferring it to the city. The city and county would also split any cost overrruns for the construction of the bridge.
The cost and alignment of the bridge is, however, still a sticking point. The $89 million proposal requires an alignment that channels traffic through the Texas A&M University at Galveston campus on Pelican Island, to the dismay of university officials who are lobbying for a more expensive version of the bridge out of concern about the safety of students and staff and its own future development on the island.
This agreement, which Galveston County commissioners will consider in coming weeks, would remove the bridge from the authority of the Galveston County Navigation District No. 1, a small local tax entity with an annual budget of about $2 million whose sole purpose is owning and operating the Pelican Island Bridge.
The district, which is contributing up to $10 million toward de-
molition of the current bridge, had clashed with the city and county over sponsor responsibilities, reasoning that the new bridge would no longer require a human operator. A district employee now operates the twolane drawbridge, raising it to allow vessels to pass underneath.
“A couple of years ago, I would have said that (the navigation district) were the correct person to be the local sponsor, but they have not really shown much interest in that,” said County Judge Mark Henry. “So we have decided that we would take that role to get the project moving.”
Under the new agreement, the city of Galveston would contribute $5 million to the construction cost. The Texas Department of Transportation has committed $45 million, with the Houston-Galveston Area Council recently pledging an $18 million grant. The county would provide up to $4 million in matching funds for the HGAC grant.
Galveston Mayor Jim Yarbrough said the city would like TxDOT to eventually take over the bridge. The city could assume some state maintenance duties on other roads in exchange, he said. County officials say TxDOT has thus far not been amenable to that arrangement.
Officials with Texas A&M University at Galveston, which has a nationally renowned marine science research campus on Pelican Island, are lobbying for a $105 million proposal that would divert bridge traffic around its campus. City and county officials said lack of funds made this impossible.
“I know it’s not their preferred alignment, but two years ago I met with them and said, ‘This is the bridge I’m going to build because that’s all the money I’ve got,’ ” Henry said. “If the A&M system can come up with the money, then we’re happy to go around (the campus).”
Col. Mike Fossum, the CEO of the Galveston campus, said the lower-cost proposal would jeopardize the university staff and its more than 2,500 students. The campus is next to an oil refinery terminal, and hazardous cargo frequently is moved on and off the island via Seawolf Parkway, the main thoroughfare on Pelican Island. Fossum believes the increased hazardous materials traffic from a larger bridge also poses a safety threat.
“There’s a bend on the road, in the middle of our campus, and there have been rollovers on that bend,” Fossum said. “Thank God it’s never resulted in a toxic spill or release, but it’s definitely a hazard.”
Fossum said state legislators have agreed to try to close the funding gap, which could be as much as $24 million.
Local officials agree on the economic potential a new bridge could bring to Pelican Island. Fossum noted that the island is replete with land along Seawolf Parkway that the university would eventually like to develop, provided the bridge traffic is diverted.
But any development of Pelican Island would require negotiation with the Port of Houston Authority, which purchased more than 1,100 undeveloped acres — a quarter of the island — from the Galveston Wharves Board for $6.1 million nearly 20 years ago. Various development efforts since then, including a multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas terminal, have failed to materialize, and the land sits vacant.
A bill filed March 4 by state Rep. Mayes Middleton, a Republican who represents Galveston and Pelican Island, would direct the Port of Houston to develop the land or sell it to a for-profit entity.
A deal to replace the bridge brought renewed urgency to the need to use the Port of Houston’s land as prime deepwater port space, Middleton said.
“I find it fundamentally wrong that the power of government and taxpayer money has been used to harm free enterprise,” Middleton said. “Deepwater port land is a valuable commodity and to have 1,100-plus acres just sit there unused for decades is a huge waste of economic potential.”
A Port of Houston spokeswoman said options for the Pelican Island land remain open. The port’s website lists the Pelican Island plot as a leasable property.
Yarbrough emphasized that a new bridge has the potential to attract the Port of Houston as a development partner with the city, which owns 88 acres of undeveloped land. The two ports have unsucessfully attempted mergers with the intention of building on Pelican Island.
“I think as we look to develop our 88 acres, that may be the opening or the front door into helping partner with the Port of Houston to develop all or part of their property,” Yarbrough said.