RGV AG said:

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I always think about the early 90's fanciful American General grandiose development up near the east cut when I ponder the 2nd causeway to the Island. That was such a buoyed deal and drew lots of attention that it seemed like a sure thing to happen. With hovercraft and all.

But when the rubber remotely attempted to even start thinking about meeting the road the galvanization of opposition to it was incredible. Years of planning (well really scheming) got blown up quick.

There has never been, that I know of, a true exact/precise location given for where the 2nd causeway would exit land on land bay side and then make entry onto the bay land side of the Island. I have always figured that when that happens there will be some opposition. It seems the Holly Beach deal is a "general" location, but not quite precisely if you look at the map released.

One of the releases I read about it said that it was "the most environmentally challenging project in the US". That raised my eyebrows.

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Crosses one of only 6 hyper saline bay systems in the world, close to, maybe intrudes on, ocelot country, the RGV is a major flyway for migrating birds, turtle grass in the LLM, etc. I do wonder if the LNG project moving forward in spite of the environmentalist protestations will galvanize that group to push back harder on the bridge project. Environmental clearance was granted before so there is history there that should help move it forward.

I read where, if all things are approved, construction could begin as early as..........2029!

Very apt points and you are right in what you state. The LLM was, and kinda still is, a jewel on the coastal crown. One of the main reasons for that was the lack of population that accessed it for a long period of time. The population grown in the entire RGV Metroplex, and by that I mean to include the Mexican side too, over the last 15 years has been astounding.

From RGC to Browntown and across the Mexican side there are about 400K more folks than in San Antonio. And prolly right now given FJB's border deal it might be 150K higher than that. All these folks within a 1.5, maybe a tad longer, drive of SPI.

To your point on the LNG deal, I recently drove 48 from Brownsville to PI, that road was humming with traffic like I had never seen since Spring Break was actually a thing. Why wouldn't a cause way branching out from 48 and coming into the Island around Isla Blanca not be considered. A large over the channel bridge could be constructed. I think the feasibility would be a lot better, and a lot less over the water miles as well.

I get the desire to populate and develop the north end of SPI, and all the high dollar stuff up there and such. But man going across that long of a bay in the year of our Lord late 2020 something is going to be an environmental flustercluck.

All of the growth in the RGV and on SPI always takes me back to the big question I have; Water? When I lived on the Island we were without water a slew of times, for various reasons. There was one big break in the main line that took like 3 days to fix one time. Where is the RGV and the Mexican side going to get all the fresh water that is truly needed for a large population? And God help the folks trying to grow stuff. Not to mention the industrial behemoth of Monterrey about 130 miles southwest that now sucks up about 90% of the San Juan river inflows that once reached the Rio Grande.

I came back to the STEX forum and was surprised to see so many comments on this thread. It's good to know there's still a little activity. I would say most people on this thread, probably hold a similar view in regards to the causeway.

We all remember the way it used to be and hate all the change, but on the other hand, it's always interesting to see what something new will bring.

Since I started posting on this thread, five years ago, my thoughts of changed as well.
As I near retirement, the energy to get excited about a second causeway, and the economic opportunities that it might provide is fading fast.

From my perspective, the only thing that would interest me at this point is if the perception of the island changed to the money in Houston and Dallas. If you could attract Houston-Dallas money again like we did in the 80s that island probably would take on a much better economic Outlook.

however, culturally, I think padre have gotten a bad rap with the younger folks, and I don't think it will ever come back.

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From my perspective, the only thing that would interest me at this point is if the perception of the island changed to the money in Houston and Dallas. If you could attract Houston-Dallas money again like we did in the 80s that island probably would take on a much better economic Outlook.

however, culturally, I think padre have gotten a bad rap with the younger folks, and I don't think it will ever come back.

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That is a very apt observation and opinion. I share it as well for the most part. I am currently strongly considering selling my property in PI that I have for almost 30 years. At one time I thought I would retire there, but no more alas. The PI & SPI that I really enjoyed years ago is no more.

The big, upper end, Texas money will never come back to SPI for the most part. What really killed that was easy, affordable flights out of IAH to the Caribbean and spots all over Mexico. Easier access to the FL beaches and resorts.

I remember looking at some flights in the mid-90s and it was only like $130 more expensive to fly to Cozumel from IAH than to Harlingen/Brownsville. Hmmm.....6 hours airport to caribbean resort door or 3.5 hours to fly and drive to SPI? Or 6.5 hours by car all in? No brainer really.

Another factor that has hurt the "upper ending" of SPI is that the big Mexican money no longer vacations there, same thing. They can hop a flight out of MTY to SA, Houston, or other parts easily and in 4 to 5 hours they are in a much more attractive location to them. Obviously he danger of intra-Mexico travel also applies. Plus they don't have to share the beach with a family of 26 from Rio Hondo that weights 2 tons, has 3 Shamu floats, and are drunker than bats by 1pm on the beach.

For sure the Island has really changed. In talking to a long time friend that has a majority of the beach rental stuff and also has a large wholesale trinket operation he was telling me how much lower class the sales had become over the past 15 years.

One other big factor was the drinking age and all the vendetta against Spring Break. One thing Spring Break did do is introduce thousands of Texas college kids to the Island, and many returned for years as adults. Now not so much.

https://myrgv.com/local-news/2024/02/06/second-causeway-construction-for-south-padre-island-wont-start-for-years/

I'm giving it until 2030

Man, I feel like I'm talking to myself here. It's funny because I talk to people from all over the country. It's amazing how many people I run into they were in high school in the 80s and drove from Missouri or Nebraska or Chicago for spring break in South Padre. They all have fond memories.


That being said, today of my three kids, only my son prefers padre. My daughters all want to go to Seaside Florida.

And that's even with us being on the island since the 60s. They still don't care about it because no one else does and in particular your comment about the fat asses from Browntown, does not appeal to them.

The outbound lanes were shutdown yesterday for 2 hours because of a gate malfunction due to the rain and winds. That's the fancy safety feature that is supposed to warn if they have a serious problem like 2001.

2040.

I had never heard of them malfunctioning like that.

OXDL45 said:

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I had never heard of them malfunctioning like that.

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I vaguely remember it happening before but I'm not positive.

Hopefully they got it figured out and the system is still in working order. You realize how many people visit the island for a day when you see the line to get on the bridge and how far it backs up.

OXDL45 said:

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Hopefully they got it figured out and the system is still in working order. You realize how many people visit the island for a day when you see the line to get on the bridge and how far it backs up.

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lol like 10 years ago we were on the island around this time of year on a Saturday and the bridge was undergoing some kind of work where it was down to one lane West bound. There was some kind of kite festival and maybe something else at the convention center that drew a bunch of Winter Texans and holy crap i kid you not - The line to get off the island was backed up to Kelly's Irish Pub. It took our friends 5 hours (!!!!) to make the drive back to McAllen.

We had enough time in line that I got out of the car and walked over to the Pizza Hut to get food - something like 45 minutes and I knew it would be no problem. I think we beat our neighbors by an hour because of my superior driving skills and leaving maybe 30 minutes before they did but holy crap, it was stupid.

Epic move.

OXDL45 said:

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This thread will continue forever.

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2x as long
3x over budget

…the causeway that is

This post is the one post that gets any kind action in here as the S. Tx board is dead

D.E.A.D.

With that being said, this second causeway will never come to fruition. Look at the current facts: this has been in discussions long before the environmental study was begun in 2012. There are 2 clear cut camps here. The camp that wants the island to flourish and become a destination and the camp that wants to keep the island the old sleepy place for locals.

SPI will never be a destination because there was an opportunity back in the 80s and 90s while it was a destination for loads of people but locals ruined it. The locals that wanted to keep it a slow little town and the locals that came out to spring break to perv on the out of town gueras and cause a ruckus by fighting and all the other scandalous shenanigans that occurred.

Had SPI capitalized by creating more tourist friendly activities back then and invested in creating a destination perhaps we'd now have cruise ships departing from nearby Port of Brownsville or an actual airport had been built in nearby Los Fresnos or Bayview or PI. More hotels, more clean beaches, more safety. But as usual our own ruin what we do have. Great job, RGV, Great job.

Keep taking day trips to the island and trash the beaches with your litter and other recreational activities. Keep fighting amongst yourselves because someone looked at your ruca.

Usually I read your stuff and disagree with most of it. Slightly agree with the majority of this.

SPI could have been more but I think it is a good balance of what it has become.

Agree with a OX.

You said it all out loud. Reading your post made me realize it will never come back. Just like people will never dress up to travel again nor will regular people put on their Sunday best to go to church and then lunch

The crap of the world is taking over and unfortunately, the little island we used to love is headed to the same place.

El Presidente said:

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Had SPI capitalized by creating more tourist friendly activities back then and invested in creating a destination perhaps we'd now have cruise ships departing from nearby Port of Brownsville or an actual airport had been built in nearby Los Fresnos or Bayview or PI. More hotels, more clean beaches, more safety. But as usual our own ruin what we do have. Great job, RGV, Great job.

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This take is wrong on a multitude of levels. If you think a second causeway is a challenge, how in the Sam Hill do you think Brownsville and Harlingen would cave in to building a THIRD commercial traffic airport in Cameron County? Bad take, especially when BRO is 25 minutes to the Island and VIA is 35.

Your comments make me wonder when was the last time you set foot on SPI. What more "tourist friendly" activities should the Island have created back when? The Island itself is the attraction - best beaches in Texas, green-blue Gulf water to the east, Lower Laguna Madre to the west. There are LOADS of activities to engage in on the Island.

I first started living on the Island during summers in 87' and basically moved there FT by 90'. I called the Island home for well over 10 years and have owned property there, LV, and still currently in PI. Although the last 10 or so years I haven't spent much time in the area, I still keep up with things pretty heavy and get a lot of insight via the rental market.

I don't think the second causeway will ever be built, but I don't think it has anything to do with what is or isn't on the Island. The same thing that is starting to affect the RGV in a noticeable way has always affected the SPI area: Water, or lack thereof. I don't see there being the water to make the north end of the Island grow bit time.

If the Island could have supported upper end tourist demographics it would have developed much differently than it did. Almost every developer that tried to develop a big time upper end condo or development failed. Sunchase broke John Connally, Boardwalk and Bridgepoint hammered the Veales amongst others. Bob Williams barely escaped Suntide III. There is a long list of things.

Years ago a long time moneyed Island developer was with a group of us sitting around Jim's Pier drinking brews. He made a very good point, and he developed a mid size luxury condo that barely made it, that after 9/11 the demographics of the Island changed. It used to be that all kinds of folks in Houston and Dallas had condo's on the Island and many kept cars at VIA. SWA used to have like 9 or 10 flights a day to HRL. There were like 15 from DAL to HOU. I knew people that bought some type of open end tickets every year from SWA. And they could easily show up at either airport and in the case of Houston be on the Island in less than 3 hours and about 4 from Dallas.

The whole air travel change cramped styles, soup to nuts now it is 4.5 hours to/from Houston and about 5.5 to Dallas. The moneyed folks there said F'it and started going to Cancun, Cozumel, and other prettier and more exotic places, especially the FL panhandle area.

The Monterrey money, the real money, has gravitated to other places as well. No longer are they driving, through what is now both dangerous and a PIA to the Island to spend a couple of weeks a summer or for holy week. And no amount of "family" attraction will change that. They are flying and going other places.

If you add the population of both the Valley side and the Mexican side there are 300K more people in this area than San Antonio. That is chingos of hoi polloi and Valley/Mexican side trash, and they can and do drive to the Island. There is no longer anything exotic about SPI. Shamu tied to the roof of a mini van with a BBQ pit in the back is the rule for SPI not the exception.

SPI is a wonderful, true South Texas Coastal beach. I love it during the winter, no place better for me. But it will never be South Florida. There will never be tons of golf course nearby, lush golf courses because it actually rains. The wind howls at SPI, making going offshore a big biscuit eating beetch most of the time. Keeping a large boat anywhere in the area is a PIA and expensive, there are no to very poor services for boat owners. And in the winter time the northers will beat the hell outta you.

SPI should be loved and appreciated for what it is, it just wasn't born with or at a location that gives it year round upper level tourist holding potential. It is a beach in a semi arid area where the wind blows like a mother goose and in the summer you will get roasted. Fishing is great at times, it is laid back, the beaches are nice. It is what it is. And those that have marketed it and developed it have come to the financial realization of what it is.

Rgv, you wrote my book.
A lot of emotion and a great story in what you just wrote. I'm sure we've crossed paths somewhere.

The only part I think I would have a different perspective on is that things could've been different if people in the 70s 80s and 90s saw what was coming and made appropriate decisions as a result. I don't know what those decisions should've been but the Israeli money it will probably start of the decline in the late 80s.

And lastly, I agree with you, wholeheartedly the changing demographics and population in the last 10 years, put the nail in the coffin.

That being said, it's still a great place, and always will be. Just not what we remember.

TL: DR : RGV/SPI will grow north out necessity, Politics are changing in S.Texas, Desal and 2nd Causeway Federally funded.

I believe the second causeway will happen (and will fight for it politically). A few reasons: Politics, SpaceX, Growing North Across the RGV.

As I have posted on this thread before, I have spoke with Carlos Cascos (former Cameron County Judge/Former TX Secretary of State/signed the SpaceX deal) about this subject, and he stated it is all politics at the state level. South Texas votes Dem and Texas is a Rep state. As simple as that when it comes to funding this and dragging it out. He said this causeway could have been done decades years ago if the politics were different....are they changing now? Me thinks yes!

Enter illegal immigration and politics. I was born in 1987 and have been going to SPI my entire life. Lived in Weslaco, Harlingen, Laguna Vista, and SPI until we realized we couldn't raise a family on SPI during the Spring break and Summer. We are currently trying to move back to Laguna Vista, again, and it has been interesting hearing the opinions of the "locals." The entire RGV has suffered the consequences of unchecked illegal immigration, but the tide is turning now.

Enter SpaceX, my family along with 1,000s of others now watch rockets launch from SPI. My children know my beach growing up as the place we watch rockets launch (and blow up!) while fishing and eating tacos. There are now regularly 1,000s if not 10,000s, from around the world, of people fascinated by what is occurring down there. As well as the employees of SpaceX, most new individuals to the RGV don't want to live in Brownsville...they have told me. This is a whole new population of people that will have generational impact.

My realtor was talking about the gentrification of the local colonias (Laguna Heights), and how residents that have been renting their entire lives, there, are being priced out due to SpaceX and LNG workers coming in now.

I don't know SPI in the 80s, but I have seen pictures of Spring Break, MTV, etc. and the demographics (and waist sizes) have certainly changed over the years. I spent high school Spring Break going to SPI, and my father (from Indiana) talked about SPI for years as a attractive venue for snow birds, northerners, and winter Texans (depending on the Canadian dollar). I spoke with the Mayor of SPI at the time (Barry) and he stated that 75% of the owners on SPI are retired folks. I just talked to a couple retiring from the BCS, and they looked at SPI but said there was not enough activities for retired folks there...they went to Arizona instead. Go figure.

Nobody in PI or SPI (that I know of) wants the second causeway (or SpaceX for that matter), because it will kill the South side of the island. It will become "old SPI" and will force PI and LF to lose business and tax revenue. I will say it has been incredible to watch Los Fresnos grow over the last 20 years due to the traffic going to SPI. It is clear that the SPI development of the Convention Center, Claytons, Hilton, and all of the "North Side" amenities were built there with the hope of growing north.

But on to new business! Politics are changing in the RGV (I am staking my political career on that) and the growth cannot be contained. All of the major cities have no where to go except North encroaching on the smaller cities. I live in College Station right now, and never thought I would see CS get so close to Snook and Navasota, but here we are. I even hear talk at the council meetings about merging BCS into one city! Never say never! Cities like Lyford, Harlingen, Rio Hondo, Primera, Edinburg, Mercedes, La Feria, etc. all growing North...there is no where else to go.

So finally, I think SPI will growth north because it has no other choice. For the first time ever, I heard that Port Aransas was the hot spot for Spring Break this year! (I know it was in the past). But with SpaceX, Valley growth, and a global population of people finding out about the gem that is SPI, there is no other logical conclusion IMHO.

...As for water, that is a problem for everyone in the 956, now. Population growth, business growth, closing of the sugar mill, a lot of people are now just waking up to realize they will need more water. As I have stated in my campaign, I am for using federal funding to support desalinization plants as well as the 2nd causeway. Those are two critical infrastructure projects that South Texas deserves!