CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — As crews get ready to resume work on the main span of the new Harbor Bridge Thursday -- the construction zone has been an area of confusion for drivers, leading to more than one wrong-way accident.
The Texas Department of Transportation, elected city leaders and bridge developer Flatiron Dragados all agree that they want to put a stop to the crashes.
According to At-Large Corpus Christi Councilman Mike Pusley, city leaders met with TxDOT Tuesday to discuss solutions for the wrong-way crashes that have taken place on, or near the existing Harbor Bridge.
"There are four ways that you can get onto the existing Harbor Bridge and be going the wrong way," Pusley said.
He added that TxDOT is working with the city to come up with both short term and long term fixes -- starting with LED signage.
"That way there will be some bright flashing signs if they are going the wrong way," Pusley said. "Many of those entrances, if you enter them at night it's hard to see. Even if you weren't impaired."
3NEWS spoke with Flatiron Dragados spokesperson Lynn Allison about what residents can expect for the entry ramps on the new bridge.
"The approach ramps are going to be much longer and much less steep of a grade. So you wont have the escalation of the sharp turns coming off or on the bridge," Allison said.
She adds that they are excited abut moving forward with TxDOT, and intend to meet all of their requirements and safety concerns, while getting the bridge completed.
"We are a couple years from having the new bridge open, so we want to make sure this sort of tragic accident doesn't occur again," Pusley said.
The new Harbor Bridge is expected to be completed in 2025.
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