Surf and Turf

Luhr Bros. and King Fisher Reopening Corpus Christi's Packery Channel

By Jennifer Hiller

Packery Channel broke ground during the summer on North Padre Island, but the $30 million plan to dredge a new boat channel from the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to the Gulf of Mexico has been more than 80 years in the making.

About 50 percent complete and expected to open in August, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project will reopen a channel that silted shut in 1923.

Dredging attempts at Packery Channel in 1890, 1938 and 1954 eventually failed, and six hurricanes have reopened the channel, but none permanently. The channel takes its name from the "packeries" that used the pass in the mid-1800s. Businesses operating along the channel sold bird feathers, cattle and turtles.

The general contractor is a joint venture between the Illinois-based Luhr Bros. Inc., which owns a rock quarry and has done other marine and jetty projects, and the Port Lavaca-based King Fisher Marine Service, which specializes in dredging. Both companies have worked with the Corps of Engineers on other projects.

For years, Corpus Christi leaders talked of reopening the channel because it would provide the most direct access for resident boaters to reach the Gulf. The project is also seen as a lynchpin for resort development on North Padre Island. The project had some environmentalists concerned about storm-flooding implications, but the Corps of Engineers says it will benefit the Upper Laguna Madre by increasing circulation and water quality.

advertisement

Rocking Out

The project will use mechanical water-based dredging, hydraulic dredging and mechanical land-based dredging to create the 8-ft. channel. The two rock jetties will extend 1,400 ft. into the Gulf and about 900 ft. onto the land, and the crown width of 10.5 ft. will be covered with a concrete walkway.

Andrew Smith, civil engineer with the Corps of Engineers, said storm wave heights, prevailing winds and the placement and cost of stone were considered when designing the jetties. The jetties are oriented at 12 degrees north of the shore to provide shelter from the prevailing southeast winds in the summer and prevent wave action inside the channel.

The jetty's limestone base and core-42,500 tons of blanket stone and 27,800 tons of core stone-will be topped by 57,500 tons of granite. "Granite is the densest readily available rock," Smith said. "You get a lot more weight and better protection from waves." More than 9,500 tons of small limestone will be used as filler.

Luhr Bros. will build the first 500 ft. of jetty from the beach, then go to a barge-based operation, Smith added. All of the landside work will be complete before the channel is opened.

The project also features a sand-bypass casing-the first of its kind on the Texas coast. Workers used directional boring to place 30-in. high-density polyethylene below the channel.

"It's a new idea," Smith said. "There should be no net transport of sand on this part of the beach. But if the city starts to add sand on one side of the channel and the other side is starved, sand can be mined from one side to the other. You can rebuild the beach on either side."

More than 106,000 cu. yds. of sand have been dredged from a 2-mi. section between the Intracoastal Waterway and an existing bridge at State Highway 361. To prevent erosion and protect the existing floodwall, the dredged sand has been used to raise the grade along the channel from 2 ft. to an average of 6.5 ft.

Most of the dredge material from the channel construction-about 730,000 cu. yds.-will be placed to the south of the channel in front of an existing seawall via hydraulic dredge. That placement will increase elevation to 3 ft. with a minimum beach width of 350 ft. The beach restoration is one of the key environmental aspects of the project, Smith said.

Because scour is a potential problem in the channel, protection is provided along either side of the highway bridge and through the bridge section. Woven geotextile filter cloth, limestone and tremie-placed concrete will be used directly around the bridge piles.

"That is the choke point," Smith said. "It's the most narrow point of the channel, and the only place for the tide to go through."

Throughout construction, the contractors have been careful to watch for sea turtles that nest from March through September, prevent the destruction of sea grasses and avoid disturbing the piping plover, a threatened bird that spends its winter along the Texas Gulf Coast.

"We do regular bird surveys to see if they're moving around or being affected by the work," Smith said. During turtle-nesting season, workers do a daily survey for turtles and eggs, and vehicles larger than a pickup truck are escorted by a four-wheel drive that acts as a lookout.

Wayne Boyd, president of King Fisher Marine Service, said the construction at Packery Channel has required few subcontractors because it calls for primarily rock and dredge work. Erosion Prevention of Houston is supplying concrete matting for the channel. Workers began laying the matting in mid-September. The Dune Doctors of Pensacola, Fla., will handle native-grass planting.

Shoring Up Funding

The Water Resources Development Act of 1999 authorized the work, although piecemeal federal funding for $19.5 million of the project has been an ongoing issue.

The first construction funds were released in 2002, and by the end of 2003 Congress had sent $5.5 million for the project. Another $4.7 million was released for 2004, including $400,000 in last-minute funding that was released in late spring so work could continue through early fall.

Because Packery Channel has never appeared in the president's budget, project supporters and area politicians have been anxiously watching the 2005 House and Senate budgets as they move through Congress. Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has been a key supporter of the project, shepherding funding through and calling Packery Channel one of her top priorities for the state.

The project needs another $9.3 million in congressional funding for fiscal year 2005 to wrap up by the estimated completion date.

"That's what it would take to finish the project on time," said Marilyn Uhrich, public affairs specialist at the U.S. Army Engineer District in Galveston.

By early fall, only $3 million had appeared in the House version of the budget. Supporters were hopeful that all funds would be in place by the time both houses of Congress agree on a budget.

Another $10.5 million in local funding comes through a city of Corpus Christi bond election and a $1 million grant from the Texas General Land Office.

Also, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in May awarded the city of Corpus Christi a $500,000 grant to build a two-lane boat ramp, parking lot, road and three docks. The city is matching that grant with $205,621. The ramp will be built on the north side of Packery Channel.

Upon completion, Packery Channel will be turned over to the city of Corpus Christi, which will be responsible for maintenance dredging and future beach remediation.

"This is only an estimate, but the first dredge after the opening will be somewhere in the three- to five-year range," said Tom Utter, assistant city manager in Corpus Christi. "Then we'll have to dredge every three years or so."

Key Players

Owner: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
General Contractor: Luhr Bros. Inc. and King Fisher Marine Service Joint Venture
Native grass planting: Dune Doctors, Pensacola, Fla.
Concrete matting: Erosion Prevention, Houston