After years of construction, delays and setbacks, the largest cable-stayed concrete-segmental bridge in the U.S. and the tallest point in South Texas is set to open on Saturday, June 28, marking a new era for the Port of Corpus Christi.
The new Harbor Bridge in Corpus Christi, the largest cable-stayed bridge in the U.S., opens this weekend, transforming port operations.
The new bridge located in Corpus Christi features six-lane sections off US 181, with three lanes in each direction, a median barrier, shoulders, and a shared-use path for bicycles and pedestrians. According to the Harbor Bridge Project, it will be the largest cable-stayed concrete-segmental bridge in the U.S. when completed. The new design incorporates several aesthetic features, including the shared-use path, a community plaza, nighttime LED lighting and xeriscape landscaping. In all, the design and construction is just over six miles of bridge and connecting roadway.
Corpus Christi’s new Harbor Bridge, the nation’s largest cable-stayed span, opens this weekend, boosting port access and city growth.
The project began in 2016 and is replacing the iconic skyline bridge, which has been a landmark of the city’s downtown area since the late 1950s. “While the current bridge’s 138 feet of navigational clearance met World War II standards when it was built, it hinders the Port of Corpus Christi’s competitiveness with other Gulf Coast deepwater ports due to larger ship sizes today,” the project website reads.
The project has encountered a series of setbacks since first breaking ground in 2016, according to reports, including years of civil rights lawsuits and relocation programs that moved several minority residents from the Hillcrest neighborhood where the bridge was being built.
During the initial start of the project, Flatiron Dragados hired FIGG Bridge Engineers to design the new bridge, the report said. The same company also designed the pedestrian bridge at Florida International University in Miami, which collapsed in March of 2018, killing six people.
Following the incident in Florida, the Texas Department of Transportation halted work on the Harbor Bridge Project and waited for the National Transportation Safety Board to complete its investigation in Florida after the collapse.
After the investigation, FIGG Bridge Engineers was removed from the new project due to design flaws, which pushed the project completion date back multiple years and increased the project’s cost. TxDOT and Flatiron Dragados continued to disagree on the bridge design and contractual obligations until a final agreement was reached.
While the initial project was set to be completed in 2020, after the setbacks and legal woes, construction on the new project resumed in late 2022. Now five years behind schedule, according to local reports, the new bridge is anticipated to open this Saturday.