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Islanders frustrated at CR 257 repair time
Published February 1, 2009
TREASURE ISLAND — The school bus stop once a few blocks from Mark Dobbs’ Treasure Island home now is 9 rough miles away.
“I drive that road at least four times every day,” the semi-retired Dobbs said of what Hurricane Ike left of the Bluewater Highway, about 3 miles of which are now the beach.
He takes his daughter, Kandis, 15, to what remains of Stahlman Park, where she meets the bus to take her to Freeport Intermediate School.
“The bus used to come down here, but since the storm, I have to take her there,” he said.
Kandis isn’t wild about the trip.
“It’s bumpy, and I don’t like any of it,” she said of the path of what was once CR 257. “The worst part is the beach. Sometimes it’s rough; sometimes it’s soft sand.”
Because of detours, potholes, washboard sand, ever-changing erosion and missing pavement, it takes about 40 minutes to drive the dozen miles between Treasure Island and the Surfside Beach village limits. At highest tide, even that problem pales.
“Six weeks ago, I couldn’t go get her at all for two days,” Dobbs said of a high tide event following a cold front. “She had to stay with friends.”
Treasure Island property manager Jim Corsey said his four-wheel-drive pickup will make the trek during such a tide, but only when a few inches of water cover the beach up to where the road was before Ike’s arrival last September.
TEMPORARY FIX
Pct. 1 Commissioner Donald “Dude” Payne and road crews have been working on the highway regularly since Ike’s passage.
The road’s first post-storm path went through front yards and onto the beach, around 10-foot-deep cuts or whatever way workers could find to make a route from one end of the island to the other.
In December, Payne secured the promise of up to $3.3 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to put in a temporary, 28-foot-wide crushed concrete road. In January, the Federal Highway Administration agreed to kick in $2.5 million toward repairing the thoroughfare.
“We started pursuing FEMA funds right after the hurricane,” Payne said. “That had to go to Washington to be approved, and it came back sometime around Christmas.”
Shortly after the storm, estimates for permanent work ranged from $50 million to $100 million, County Engineer Gerald Roberts said. It could cost $38 million to permanently rebuild the 13-mile road, but the highway would have to be protected by revetment, new sand dunes or another tidal barrier to prevent tropical storms or extremely high tides from again ripping away the road, he said.
Highway administration money will pay for the crushed concrete road from CR 257-M, or Key Largo Street, west to the Surfside Village limits. FEMA’s money will be used to rebuild Bluewater from Key Largo Street to the San Luis Pass bridge.
The crushed concrete road might not be a superhighway, but Kandis — who is learning to drive — will take her chances.
“It will be better than what we have now,” she said.
IN CASE OF EMERGENCY
Most property owners on the eastern end of the island don’t live in the subdivisions in which their vacation homes stand, Corsey said. Johnnie and Donna Armstrong are from the Austin area but spend days at a time on the beach when they can.
“We were amazed at how much of the highway was gone,” Johnnie Armstrong said.
Donna Armstrong said the couple accepts the risk of living more than a half-hour away from emergency medical help.
“The road is horrible, but that’s the price you pay when you have a home down here,” she said.
The couple tries to not to drive at night since cuts can appear on the beach within a few hours. The road isn’t a lot better, Donna Armstrong said. If a driver misses a detour sign, they could be in trouble quickly.
“If your car goes off the road, it’s gone,” she said. “At night, it’s very concerning. You always have to be cautious with all the potholes, but at night, it’s not safe. We do it as little as possible.”
If there were an emergency, crews couldn’t arrive quickly, Corsey said. Surfside fire, police and EMS and the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office serve the handful of residents and part-timers past where the road gets bad, Surfside Police Chief Randy Smith said.
Travel time from Surfside Beach to Treasure Island is about a half-hour, double what it was when CR 257 was intact, Smith said. Conditions change daily with tides and washes, he said.
As summer nears, that time likely will increase and getting emergency responders to Treasure Island could become impossible, he said.
“I worry about the approaching hotter months and any kind of drought,” Smith said. “As we get sugar sand, we won’t be able to get down the beach. I hope there’s some kind of road before then.”
THE BEATEN PATH
Whoever pays the bills, Payne understands the frustration of people living on the highway.
“I’m very thankful they have been patient with us,” he said. “It’s been a frustrating process for them to drive on the beach and down a road that’s not up to standard, and in some places it’s not a road at all. Their patience has been amazing. I’m very thankful they’ve given us some time to get this done.”
Landscaping contractor Reggie Corley drives to Treasure Island from Galveston. His business is slow now, but he said it’ll pick up once spring arrives.
“I can wait,” Corley said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Neither is Dobbs, whose home has an unspoiled view of the sunset on one side and the surf on the other.
“It’s a little frustrating but we understand it’s going to take some time,” he said. “You have to deal with things like storms if you live on the beach. If you don’t like it, you get out. I’d rather live here than in the city any time.”
A brief smile of agreement passed across Corsey’s face.
“When you live on a barrier island, everything is temporary,” Corsey said. “It’s a beautiful place to be, but you don’t bring anything here you’re afraid to lose. It’s quiet and off the beaten path, but you always have to keep in mind it might not be here tomorrow.”
John Lowman covers Brazoria County for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 849-8581.
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FOOTING THE BILL
Who will help foot the bill for the temporary crushed concrete road to repair Bluewater Highway?
FEMA: Up to $3.3 million to fix from Key Largo Street to the San Luis Pass bridge
Federal Highway Administration: Up to $2.5 million to fix from Key Largo Street to Surfside Beach village limits
Brazoria County: Between $800,000 and $1.2 million in matching funds, depending on reimbursement
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