CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — If you have driven to Padre Island this week you probably noticed that traffic on SPID or Park Road 22 has been rerouted. It's the beginning a long-awaited project there and as is a really a big deal for the island.
It sounds easy if you say it real fast. Just build a bridge so you can connect the canal on this side of the roadway to the canal on that side of the roadway.
To do that traffic in the northbound lane of SPID has been diverted to one lane. It's all part of the long-awaited water exchange bridge and work is moving fast. It's Mike Franklin's job to get all the moving parts headed in the same direction.
Franklin says the biggest challenge is traffic. “At times it pretty backed up,” said Franklin.
When it's done the bridge will have three arches, two for forty foot wide pedestrian and cart paths and one over a new canal with fourteen feet of boat clearance.
The canals on both sides are already in place and the whole project is expected to take about two years. For islanders the water flow from packery channel into the canals can't come too soon.
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