Texas State Highway 87

State Highway 87 marker
State Highway 87
Map
SH 87 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by TxDOT
Length249.39 mi[1] (401.35 km)
Existed1923–present
Major junctions
South end I-45 in Galveston
Major intersections
North end
Future I-69 / US 59 / US 84 at Timpson
Location
CountryUnited States
StateTexas
Highway system
US 87 SH 88

State Highway 87 (SH 87) runs for 249.4 miles (401.4 km) between Galveston, Texas (at a terminus shared with Interstate 45 and Spur 342) to U.S. Highway 59 and U.S. Highway 84 in Timpson, Texas.

Highway 87 has a notable stretch between Sea Rim State Park and High Island, Texas that has been washed out repeatedly over the decades and has been closed continuously since 1990.[2] Portions of this stretch were less than 100 feet (30 m) away from high tide in the 1990s. The storm surge from Hurricane Jerry which made landfall on October 15, 1989, left the highway in a state of disrepair.

In 2018, a repair project was started by the Texas Department of Transportation to raise the elevation of the segment from Rollover Pass to High Island by 2.5 feet, with the goal of keeping the roadway passable during high tides. The project has an estimated cost of $20.8 million.[3] There is also a separate project, begun in 2022, to rehabilitate the dunes on Bolivar Peninsula to mitigate the erosion caused by the tides.[4]

A section of highway which is now known as the Warden Michael C. Pauling[5] Memorial Highway stretches from the Intracoastal Waterway Bridge to Sabine Pass on Texas 87.[6]

  1. ^ Transportation Planning and Programming Division (n.d.). "State Highway No. 87". Highway Designation Files. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved September 22, 2006.
  2. ^ "TexasFreeway > Statewide > Photo Gallery > Texas 87 Closed".
  3. ^ SH 87 - FROM ROLLOVER PASS TO NORTH OF SH 124 ON BOLIVAR, Texas Department of Transportation https://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/hou/bolivar-sh87.pdf
  4. ^ "Bolivar Peninsula Beach & Dune Restoration Design and Engineering Project". www.glo.texas.gov. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  5. ^ "Slain Texas Game Warden Memorialized in Highway Dedication". Game Warden Education. December 14, 2016. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  6. ^ "House Bill 1963" (PDF). State of Texas. Retrieved March 4, 2019.