CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Yorktown mud bridge is officially open!
For months there has been only one way to get to and from Flour Bluff from Corpus Christi- via S. Padre Island Drive.
The Yorktown mud bridge, which was a second, and only other, route to Flour Bluff, was closed in December after a sinkhole led city officials to find damage to the entire bridge due to erosion.
Today, Friday April 21, the bridge will reopen to traffic, once again connecting Corpus Christi's south side to the Bluff. TxDOT has also agreed to move up a total rebuild of the Yorktown mud bridge to 2025, a year earlier than previously planned.
Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni told 3NEWS that the rebuilt bridge will serve the community for many years to come.
"We fixed that sinkhole that occurred. The bridge is now rideable and travel-able, and it will be available for the next many years until the new bridge that's scheduled to be here is built."
Zanoni announced that after 60 days of construction work a contractor stabilized it, added a new road surface, guardrails, and signage, and restored pylons and bent caps.
"What it did is set us up nicely for the eventual replacement of the bridge, because we won't have to close this road, TxDOT won't have to close this road when they rebuild the new one," he said.
Zanoni said about two years of construction is estimated for the replacement, which will expand the bridge to four lanes. It will complement the $20 million Yorktown Boulevard expansion project from Rodd Field Road to Oso Creek Bridge.
Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo said that the rebuilt bridge will be routinely checked.
"Until then we have a wonderful piece of infrastructure and we are also going to continue to maintain all of our bridges and inspect them because that is critical," she said.
Guajardo said the mud bridge is one of 68 bridges in the city that will be inspected and maintained. She also mentioned increased gas costs and driving times while drivers had to detour from taking Yorktown Boulevard.
That's something City Councilmember Dan Suckley, who lives nearby, was directly affected by.
"Instead of being a 5 minute drive, it was a 20 minute drive. So, I understood completely, the folks that use this bridge every day and then to have it taken away, it was a hardship," he said.
Longtime Flour Bluff resident and Flour Bluff ISD Board of Trustees President Shirley Thornton said the bridge reopening will help traffic flow on school days and during emergencies.
"It's just nice to be connected again before we hit the storm season, because when we have to do evacuations—heaven forbid we do—but if we have to do evacuations, we now have our two routes open again," she said.
Zanoni told 3NEWS that if the repair work did not happen, experts said it's likely the bridge would've been closed during the replacement process.
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