Bridge's future unknown as survey of damage, oil spill and evacuation continue in Texas

GALVESTON, Texas (TND) — A bridge that connects two islands in Galveston, Texas is allowing one vehicle at time on it as evacuations continue Thursday.

Pelican Island is cut off from Galveston for a second day as crews repair the damage to Pelican Island Bridge and clean up an oil spill in the bay near busy shipping channels.

Part of the bridge was damaged Wednesday when a barge owned by Martin Petroleum slammed into one of the bridge's pillars cutting off the only way in and out from the island.

The wreck halted road and vessel traffic as the U.S. Coast Guard and Galveston officials surveyed the wreckage.

Pelican Island is home to Texas A&M University at Galveston. The campus is evacuating about 200 people who were on the campus when the collision happened.

An update Wednesday evening from university officials indicated the campus would be closed for an "extended period of time." The school asked those who were leaving the island to bring their pets.

Authorities have not said how long access to the bridge and the water near it for motorists and vessels will return to normal.

The barge that broke loose from a tug boat and crashed into the causeway spilled oil into the water.

It's reported that the barge has a capacity of carrying 30,000 gallons of oil. Official have not released how much of the oil leaked.

Galveston County Judge Mark Henry told KTRK that the county has been trying to get the bridge replaced for about 10 years. Henry said, "My concern is that they are going to deem the bridge unusable, which would not be a surprised. It was in bad shape before this accident and that's going to cause some significant disruptions to Pelican Island. People are going to have no real way of getting there and back, and with Texas A&M Galveston being there that's going to dramatically impact A&M Galveston's ability to deliver education."

The U.S. Coast Guard is expected to release an update regarding its assessment on Thursday.

Opened in 1960, the Pelican Island Causeway Bridge was rated as “Poor” according to the Federal Highway Administration’s 2023 National Bridge Inventory released last June.

The overall rating of a bridge is based on whether the condition of any of its individual components — the deck, superstructure, substructure or culvert, if present — is rated poor or below.

In the case of the Pelican Island Causeway Bridge, inspectors rated the deck in “Satisfactory Condition,” the substructure in “Fair Condition” and the superstructure — or the component that absorbs the live traffic load — in “Poor Condition.”

The Texas Department of Transportation had been scheduled in the summer of 2025 to begin construction on a project to replace the bridge with a new one. The project was estimated to cost $194 million. In documents provided during a virtual public meeting last year, the department said the bridge has “reached the end of its design lifespan, and needs to be replaced.” The agency said it has spent over $12 million performing maintenance and repairs on the bridge in the past decade.

The bridge has one main steel span that measures 164 feet (50 meters), and federal data shows it was last inspected in December 2021. It’s unclear from the data if a state inspection took place after the Federal Highway Administration compiled the data.

The bridge had an average daily traffic figure of about 9,100 cars and trucks, according to a 2011 estimate.

Editor's Note: Information from the Associated Press was used for this story.

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