CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The city of Corpus Christi gave a new update regarding the Yorktown mud bride which has been closed for two weeks because of a sink hole.
Wednesday, the city held its third press conference since the bridge's emergency closure on Dec. 12. The city said construction was put on pause due to the hard freeze and weekend holiday, but work did resume on Tuesday.
"We did meet with TxDOT and we have a verbal verification that they will expedite the replacement of the bridge," said Assistant Corpus Christi City Manager Neiman Young.
According to Young, the mud bridge was already slated to be replaced by TxDOT in 2026. However, following the safety inspection of the bridge and new findings, the replacement is expected to arrive sooner than expected.
"It might be a dual effort, it may be a replacement to keep the bridge safe and open to traffic until its replaced, or if we discover its too costly to make those repairs then it doesn't make sense financially. We will forgo the repairs and have the bridge replaced," Young said.
Corpus Christi Public Works Director Ernesto De La Garza said crews are working on the east and west channel banks of the mud bridge. He adds that his crews have also built an access road for contractors as they continue their work.
"Since it's out in the water they will need what is called plexi floats, which is like a barge they will position around the pilings so they can have access and they will go one bent at a time. They are hoping to get multiple barges," De La Garza said.
The city told 3NEWS that their structural engineer completed a full assessment of the bridge. The engineer found that there are 22 damaged pilings out of the 55 that make up the bridge, which will impact their original timeline.
De La Garza said that the review will go to TxDOT's bridge division in Austin to decide the next steps.
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