pep talk

My lingering suspicion was correct. The next underwater demolition (and accompanying 30-minute bridge closure) at the Galveston Causeway has been pushed back; it’s taking place in two weeks, on August 13 at 8 a.m. and not this Sunday. So if you had plans to traverse Galveston Bay Sunday morning, go forth, unimpeded by the threat of blasts or road closures.

I was wrong about one thing, though. I thought the delay might have something to do with gnarly weather we had this past week. It sounds like instead, they’re planning to double up, taking out larger stretches of the old span’s foundations at each road closure. 

Remember a few weeks ago they blew up part of the old Causeway bridge one Sunday morning, and closed the bridge in both directions for 30 minutes? (Even though it was supposed to be no big deal, there was this great photo in the Daily News of a dramatic aquatic eruption.) Well, the next scheduled closure was/is this Sunday, July 30, at 8:00 a.m. The City of Galveston sent out a release, but there’s been nothing as of this post on Transtar or the TX DOT site, which has me wondering if the rain and wind this week has delayed the work. I’ll see if I can find anything out tomorrow. Just in case and if you can, you may want to stay away from the causeway Sunday morning.   

There’s that old adage that was a favorite of my buddies in high school: “No pain, no GAIN!” (invariably followed by a few grunts and a full-body flex). The same adage applies to the construction that’s been taking place on campus, taking place for so long that most of us have become accustomed to being rerouted and taking the “long way around” to just about anything. We’ve felt the pain; we’re ready for some gain. The good news from the construction folks is that University Plaza is starting to wrap up. The sidewalks and streets should be finished in August and the structure itself complete in September. (They’ve already opened the street on the southwest side of the Field House, and the east entrance to the hospital, the site of utility connection work for weeks, is now also open). 

What I hear about the new parking garage is that it’s going to be split between patients and contract (employee) parking, at least until more clinical and patient facilities begin to go up around the plaza in the coming years. If you haven’t seen the plaza taking shape, cruise over to the Administration Building and take a peek from the Caduceus Room (on the sixth floor). It’s looking good.