Community packs meeting for ‘Beach Road’ reopening

About 100 people gathered in the Sabine Pass ISD Cafeteria on July 27 for a community meeting on reopening a 21-mile stretch of State Highway (SH) 87 between Sea Rim State Park and High Island. The meeting was sponsored by the Sabine Pass Port Authority.

Port Manager Mark Viator noted that the itinerary of the meeting was to describe federal grant opportunities, provide information about efforts to study the testability of reopening SH 87, share information about planned improvements to Jetty Road, gather input on both roads, and discuss potential future port initiatives and improvements.

“We’re not saying the road is going to be built,” Viator tempered enthusiasm, but added the port would be pursuing a federal grant through the Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformation, Efficient and Cost-saving Transportation (PROTECT) Program to study the feasibility of reconstructing SH 87.

Viator said there is up to $850 million available for this round of federal grant funding that provides funds to make surface transportation assets, communities and coastal infrastructure more resilient to current and future weather events and natural disasters.

The port manager presented the group with a history of SH 87, from it becoming part of SH 87 in 1931, to it being closed in the late 1980s, and to this year’s Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan that slated $38.5 million for gulf shoreline stabilization at McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge and $42 million for beach nourishment at Texas Point.

The highway, also known as Beach Road, received a State Historical Marker in 2007.

Viator said the highway suffered damage from Hurricanes Allen (1980), Bonnie (1986), Chantal and Jerry (1989), Rita (2005), Humberto (2007), Ike (2008), Harvey (2017), Laura (2020) and Tropical Storm Beta (2020).

The feasibility study on reconstruction of SH 87 from Sea Rim State Park to High Island would include community and agency involvement, data collection, alternative analysis, preliminary environmental analysis, governance model and preliminary funding/revenue stream analyses, and preliminary design for the preferred alternative.

Viator stated the building principles are to:

• Consider nature-based solutions to ensure a reconstructed SH 87 does not recede.

• Facilitate collaboration among federal, state and local agencies.

• Protect endangered species and wildlife migration between habitats in the adjacent marshland.

• Enhance tourist and resident access to the surrounding national wildlife refuge complex, state park and other community amenities.

• Provide a funding plan that can offset recurring operations and maintenance expenses, as well as provide a mechanism for repairs in the event of a disaster.

Jetty Road is currently in disrepair and creating unsafe driving conditions and leaving Texas Point inaccessible, according to Viator, who added that needed improvements would include enhanced safety for tourists to the Texas Points National Wildlife Refuge and boat ramps. Viator also stated improvements are needed for emergency response agencies to contain fires, as well as oil and chemical spells. Improvements would provide economic development opportunities by supporting construction of waterfront infrastructure, and shoreline protection and beach nourishment project, the port manager explained.

Finally, making the necessary improvements would support better shipping navigation through improved access to the U.S. Coast Guard Tower, especially in communicating during fog and extreme weather events.

Viator said potential port improvements would be to seek developers to provide lodging, enhanced recreational facilities and increased retail trade services such as gas stations and grocery stores. The improvements would allow the port to provide berths for LNG vessels and expand port property, and enhance ability to support industrial development of the ship channel.

“We have a gem to continue and to improve, and to build upon,” Viator said, pointing to a legacy that resulted in a story in the Jan. 12, 1999, edition of the Sabine Pass News that heralded the Sabine Pass Port as the “best harbor on the Gulf Coast.”

Before the meeting concluded, most of the attendees completed a survey for the Port Authority.

“It was a great turnout for people showing a lot of interest,” said Jefferson County Pct. 3 Commissioner Michael Sinegal.

Port Arthur Mayor Thurman Bartie said he was also impressed with the turnout.

“With the industrial personnel, and political people with their representative people showing up, it shows a collective-type of position we are taking to see how feasible it would be to rebuild the highway,” he said.

Bartie said the highway would give residents accessibility to the coast and another way out in case of an emergency.

“I’m pleased with the people who showed up and their input,” Viator remarked of what he also believed to be a good showing of interested parties. “We’re going to take this survey information and pull it together. We’re getting good support from our elected officials.

“We want to control expectations. Our focus is not on saying we’re going to do it; our focus is seeking to get the grant funding to do the feasibility study, and see if we can make another go at this.”