Corpus Christi's 'Old Shoreline' lanes reopen for traffic study Julie Garcia, Corpus Christi Caller-Times Published 2:17 p.m. CT Dec. 14, 2017 | Updated 9:05 a.m. CT Dec. 15, 2017
Mayor Joe McComb has directed city staff to reopen a section of "Old Shoreline Boulevard" so that a traffic study can be conducted. A study will be presented to City Council in January. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times
Traffic has reopened on what is called "old Shoreline Boulevard" for a temporary traffic study.
That portion of Shoreline will be open through the holidays so officials in the city manager's office can see how much vehicular traffic goes through, said Mayor Joe McComb.
"Out of the clear blue," gates were placed at Cooper's Alley and Shoreline Boulevard earlier this year, McComb said. He thinks it's unnecessary and creates a "terrible" intersection. OPINION: Corpus Christi needs more dog parks
Though the gates are new, the road has been closed to traffic for more than two years because then-city leaders said it would spur downtown pedestrian traffic and safety.
In February 2015, Corpus Christi diverted northbound traffic on Shoreline Boulevard to new lanes, which curve away from the sea wall. The other lanes were closed to vehicular traffic to promote a bayfront park, now known as The Water's Edge.
Since taking office as a council member last year and being elected mayor in May, McComb has questioned the reasons for the lane closures in a number of meetings.
"Instead of coming out with a boat and trailer at Cooper's Alley and taking a right at the stop sign to go toward Interstate 37, you have to make this terrible, drastic right-hand lane turn," McComb said.
For months, McComb said he has asked who put the gates up and has received no answer. He believes a "rogue staff member" could be responsible, and if so, the gates should be removed.
"The gates just appeared, no authorization; nobody wants to admit who installed the gates," he said. "To this date, no one can provide me documentation that any authorization was given to install those gates."
At a Wednesday event celebrating the city's employee of the year, McComb was told by assistant city manager Keith Selman (who has been investigating the gates) that the gates would be removed, and the city would conduct a traffic count and what see what traffic amount comes through.
There will be people counting the number of vehicles that travel the route on Shoreline from Kinney Street to Coopers Alley.
The Water's Edge, an approximately 30-acre park, opened in July. It includes a playground, fitness area and a dog park that was funded by private donations.
The park was paid for by a 2008 bond when residents voted for a park near the downtown bay.
Since the lane closures, the weekly Corpus Christi Downtown Farmers Market has used that part of the road for food trucks and activities.
District 1 council member Carolyn Vaughn said she has no problem with the city conducting a traffic count. But she said the concerns about the closed lanes and gates are not shared by her or other members of the council.
Comments:
Tracer Loenan ·
This was all done to make the lots on the landward side of shoreline much, much more valuable. This city will learn that when the citizens say NO, they mean NO. Open all the road as it was NOW. To do anything less could be considered an actionable violation of the Rights of the Citizens of this city.
Carolyn Moon ·
Closing Old Shoreline got rid of 3 bus stops and a lot of street parking. For those without magical legs or a car, it makes the Art Center rarher unapproachable on busy days.
Joe A McComb ·
The article HEADLINE is misleading. This change has nothing to do with Water’s Edge Park, which is bounded on the north end by Kinney Street, and Furman Avenue on the south end with Shoreline Blvd on the east and west sides) The ONLY portion being opened is the section from Cooper’s Alley north to where the “New and Old Shoreline” merge northbound. (This is NORTH of Sherrill Park) The forcing of a right turn off Cooper’s Alley (leaving the L-Head), toward I-37 onto NEW Shoreline is extremely dangerous, and almost impossible if you are pulling a boat trailer or a delivery truck and tractor. No engineer would ever design a turn like that.
Riley Riles
Good for you Mayor. Thsi whole rerouting was so underhanded that we feel fooled by the whole process. When Destination park was defeated we thought that was the end of it and then the
rerouting began. Supposedly the rerouting was approved beforehand, but with the failing of Destination, rerouting should have been a mute point. Please return to us our beautiful scenic route down Shoreline. I get so angry everytime I drive down there. There is no reason a solid continuous park cannot be constructed from the art center or sherrill park to the end of the beach complete with dog park, paygrounds and walking/bikign trails. Then we could have the best of both worlds. Great job sir!
Carrie Robertson Meyer
We were just riding our bikes there yesterday and thinking how great it is that Corpus has built such a great waterfront park and how far they made that $5 million in left-over bond funding stretch for the recent improvements. Riding with our 12-year-old, it was so peaceful and felt so safe to be so far away from traffic as we went through the Water's Edge. Reverting back to the old Shoreline is going backwards in time and wasting millions in taxpayer dollars that have gone in to making what has become a much more usable park.Mayor McComb is apparently sorely out-of-touch with what citizens want from our park space, esp our waterfront parks. We don't want to drive through them -- we want them to be safe to use.The Mayor is demonstrating a quintessential "Old School" mentality, a view held buy people who do not get out of their cars to experience beautiful paces but prefer to drive through them. That may be what his generation prefers, but nowadays people are in to staying fit, experiencing nature first hand, and definitely getting out of their cars.Uniting the park, the bayfront and beach, which is what the re-routing did, is the right direction to go and should not under any circumstances be reversed.