US 87 extends from Sabine Pass to the Bolivar Peninsula in Southeast Texas. The road has been washed out by storms over the last 15 years. It is a fascinating endeavor in that it is a road and an environmental project. The road berm will act as protection for the sensitive wildlife preserve that has seen saltwater intrusion into freshwater wetlands.
Stakeholders are:
- US Fish and Wildlife
- General Land Office for the State of Texas
- TxDOT
- Jefferson County
- Port Arthur – Sabine Pass Board
- Chambers County
- High Island
- LNG, Valero, and other industrial plants needing the emergency access route.
The process has allowed us to build a package that will have:
- Capital investment from the plants
- Coastal mitigation funds from Jefferson County
- TRZ created to allow a tax increment attachment to the ad valorem increase for both City and County taxing entities
- The GLO rebuild the Dune Lines
- US Fish and Wildlife convert the roadway into a park road that will have a user fee that will be committed to the debt service for project development
- TxDOT remove the road of its system.
US 87 is slated to be apart of the Orange, Jefferson and Hardin County RMA that is being created by TSG-i.