CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The sinkhole that crippled the mud bridge between Corpus Christi's South Side and Flour Bluff on Monday is the latest example of years of neglect and inefficient streets maintenance in Corpus Christi, said City Manager Peter Zanoni on Friday.
City officials held a news conference at the bridge Friday to announce new standards for building streets and bridges in the city, and to update community members about why the bridge repairs timeframe jumped from two days to a month.
"We know there are maintenance issues on the bridge, even prior to the sinkhole that occurred this week, there's maintenance issues, and that's indicative of the city in total."
Zanoni said City crews tried to stabilize the mud bridge Monday, but when City crews were unable to fix the issue, contractors were brought in. They began work Thursday.
"We know that this is a serious issue," he said. "We know that this is an inconvenience to the community. I know it. I don't live here, in The Bluff, but I know it as a city manager. So our goal is to get it fixed to eliminate that inconvenience, but that is gonna take a little bit of time."
The sinkhole that was reported Monday was the end result of a domino effect of damage that runs all the way down to the beams. In order to build a structurally sound bridge, the design has to include a way to stabilize the nearby soil or sand supporting the bridge.
"It is sloughing out from erosion from the waters and eventually compromised the soil under the road to where a pretty significant sinkhole occurred," he said.
When the mud bridge was built in 1985, the decision was made to use what is called an articulated block mat, Zanoni said, which can be an effective method to control soil and sand erosion, but not as effective as a retaining wall.
The sinkhole is at an embankment, Zanoni said, on the approach from the Flour Bluff area back into the South Side Corpus Christi neighborhoods. He said water pressure from the Barney Davis power plant's cooling systems and tides from Oso Bay intersect at the bridge.
"So the fix is to shore up the embankment," he said.
A type of retaining wall will now be built using asphalt and large rocks in order to stabilize the bridge until it can be rebuilt. TxDOT originally announced that construction would happen in 2026, but Zanoni said he is looking to speak with the state agency about moving up the timeline on that $20 million reconstruction.
Significant damage to the bridge's concrete beams also was found, damage that extends down to the rebar that supports it.
City of Corpus Christi Public Works Director Ernesto De La Garza said the mud bridge and Yorktown Road aren't the only areas needing repair. He said hundreds of similar reports have been called in to the city's 311 phone number, pointing to years of neglect across the city's streets.
"When we say decades of neglect, it's a true story," he said. "Our infrastructure is, in fact, in need of much repair. We do have the systems in place to begin to be proactive."
The immediate repairs are estimated to take 30 days, but Zanoni points out that it could take longer depending on the tides and weather in the coming weeks. Crews also will only work during the day, he said, because it is unsafe to try and place lights in the area for construction, but work will continue on Saturdays and possibly Sundays.
To put the mud bridge's importance to the area into perspective, Zanoni compared it to one of the city's busier South Side intersections: The mud bridge gets just under 10,000 trips a day, he said. Staples at Saratoga, only gets about 10,000 more trips.
And while he said he understands that it's inconvenient for residents in the area to have to use Hwy. 358, Zanoni also asked the public to respect the barricades that have been set up at either end of the bridge, saying that trying to go around them could be dangerous.