Crews raise Bolivar Peninsula’s state Highway 87

BOLIVAR PENINSULA — Crews working on a $6.16 million road project funded by a federal economic stimulus program will begin raising Bolivar Peninsula’s only highway, which was damaged by Hurricane Ike. Work is scheduled to start today.

A second project, already under way, should help protect the lowest-lying parts of the highway from five-year floods, Bill Babbington, an engineer with the Texas Department of Transportation, said.

Crews will begin installing culverts and pipes on state Highway 87 between the Galveston-Bolivar Ferry and state state Highway 124 with the intent of raising the road from 3 inches to 21/2 feet, Babbington said. Not all of the highway must be elevated.

Crews will not shut down the road but will have flagmen to direct single-lane traffic on the two-lane highway. The project is expected to conclude at year’s end, weather permitting, Babbington said.

State contractors are installing concrete barriers along the lowest-lying stretches of the highway, which extends some 30 miles along the peninsula.

Contractors are burying two concrete, triangular barriers side by side in the sand between the road and the beach.

They will then place a third barrier atop the two, reaching a height of 1 foot above the road, Babbington said.

The lowest section near the state Highway 124 junction is just 41/2 feet above sea level.

“The intent is to prevent some high tides and minor tropical storms from inundating that road,” Babbington said.

“That happens during spring tides, where they get water on Highway 87.”

The barriers won’t be continuously connected, Babbington said.

“It runs from Highway 124 to Rollover Pass in segments,” Babbington said.

“We tried to address the areas that lost most of the beach.”

The state isn’t installing barriers where significant beach remains, Babbington said.

The $513,868 barrier project began June 8 and is expected to be completed in 45 days, weather permitting, Babbington said.