Port Aransas Causeway in 1959A better road to the ferry.

The road to Port Aransas had a simple traffic problem: there was only room for one direction at a time.

The September 1959 Texas Highways feature describes a plank causeway put into service in 1931, with turnouts where drivers could meet oncoming traffic. In the photograph, boards stretch away beside a low railing. The road looks narrow even without a car occupying it. The old causeway, printed pages 12–13

You can see why a modern two-way roadway would make a difference before considering speed or traffic forecasts. A driver would no longer need a passing turnout to get by another car. The planned pavement was 24 feet wide, with eight-foot shoulders; the magazine contrasted it with the worn surface of the old route.

The old causeway also had a storm history. The article says hurricanes had taken it out of service for as long as three months, leaving the ferry as the only way to reach Port Aransas. That experience helps explain the confidence placed in concrete bridges and a new embankment. The replacement was still under construction when the article appeared; its opening by the following summer was a forecast.

The new route ran roughly 240 feet southeast of the old one. Building it meant making land where the roadway would go.

Two dredges began pumping fill from the bay floor in May 1958. The magazine reports more than two million cubic yards brought up during nine months, but only about 800,000 cubic yards actually placed in the road fill. It describes sand and shell settling into the roadway while finer material moved to the outer slopes. Dredging and construction, both scans

The bridges were part of the same job. Three were built by the Highway Department; the Corps of Engineers built a higher crossing over a rerouted Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. In the selected photograph, its long approach rises above the surrounding low shore. The article gives 50 feet of clearance above the water and a total length of 2,096 feet.

Road traffic and water traffic each needed a path. The high bridge provided room beneath it for vessels, while the lower bridges and fill carried the road across the rest of the 6.42-mile route. Concrete riprap was planned along bridge approaches to help resist erosion from waves. A coastal road required more than laying asphalt on a straight line.

The causeway’s name could suggest a road all the way to Port Aransas. Its actual destination was Harbor Island.

From there, county-operated ferries carried vehicles across the Corpus Christi Ship Channel to Mustang Island. The photograph of a car at the landing shows the change from roadway to boat. A new causeway improved the land portion of the journey, while the ship channel remained a separate crossing. The Harbor Island ferry connection, first scan

The article anticipated a change in what drivers paid, too. It reported a $1 charge for the existing county causeway-and-ferry trip. Once the state-owned road opened, it expected the remaining charge to be 25 cents for the county ferry.

That remaining water crossing is still part of SH 361. TxDOT’s current ferry information identifies the route between the mainland side and Port Aransas on Mustang Island. The road and ferry continue to work together: reaching the landing is one part of getting across the channel. TxDOT’s ferry route information