Officials eyeing early opening for Texas City Dike

TEXAS CITY — Construction crews are making better-than-expected progress on the repairs to the Texas City Dike. Barring any significant weather delays, including a possible hurricane, the dike could reopen by Labor Day weekend, City Engineer Douglas Kneupper said.

The dike has been closed since Hurricane Ike struck in September 2008.

The possible opening by the summer’s last holiday was music to the ears of Brenda Rilat, owner of Lee’s Bait Camp at the mouth of the dike. Her family has been in business on the dike for more than three decades. Family interests included Curl’s Bait Camp, which was destroyed by the hurricane.

“It would be a great deal,” Rilat said. “It would be tremendous if it does open up.”

Rilat said she doesn’t think her business could survive another year without the dike open.

Business without the dike has “not been very good,” she said. “We’re just barely (making it). We’re just getting by.”

Ahead Of Schedule

When the dike does reopen, though, Rilat’s business and Boyd’s One Stop across the street should see a boom — especially since the bait camps that operated on the dike before the storm likely won’t be allowed to rebuild.

Initially, city officials estimated the dike would not reopen to the public until October. Work has progressed to the point that the first weekend in September is a possibility, although the mayor cautions it likely will be sometime in the mid- to later part of the month.

“It’s to a point that our city crews have had to step up their work because the contractor has gotten so much done ahead of schedule,” Mayor Matt Doyle said.

So far, work crews have paved 3 miles of the road and built a new turn around at the end of the 5-mile long pier. About 1 mile of the outbound lane of the dike road has been paved.

A Lot To Do

There’s still plenty of work to be done, including rebuilding the dike’s boat ramps and reconstructing parking areas.

The boat ramp work is being handled by city crews. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is paying for the road work, will not pay for the reconstruction of the boat ramps and pier, including the Samson-Yarbrough ramp near the end of the dike. According to the state, that was the busiest boat ramp in Galveston Bay before Ike.

The new and improved dike will include some enhancements, particularly more areas to park and fish along the length of the dike. The shoulders to the roadway have been leveled, making it easier to access the large rocks that line the dike’s shoreline.

Anglers won’t have the severe drop-offs that made parking difficult. The parking lots along the dike will be larger than they were before the hurricane.

The city was able to salvage most of the concrete picnic shelters at the dike beach. Those areas will be enhanced with car-width driveways that will let dike users back their car or truck right to the picnic shelter.

The city also will install solar powered lights along the length of the dike to illuminate the roadway at night.

$5 Access Fee

The other new addition will be a toll to go onto the dike. Doyle said the city will charge $5 per car for access to the dike.

Money will be used to cover the maintenance and cleanup costs for the dike. City officials determined it would cost the city about $1 million a year to maintain the dike before the hurricane.

The fee won’t be assessed every day, Doyle said. It likely will be reserved for holidays, weekends and the summer season, the mayor said.

Doyle said the toll booth would accept exact change only to keep traffic moving.

Doyle said to test how much a delay taking a toll fee will cause, city staff will be handing out goody bags to those arriving at the Texas City-La Marque Hurricane Protection Levee to watch the city’s Fourth of July fireworks display next weekend.