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Fred Hartman Bridge - Baytown Texas

The Fred Hartman Bridge or Baytown Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge in the U.S. state of Texas. It spans the Houston Ship Channel and carries State Highway 146 between the cities of Baytown, Texas and La Porte, Texas.

The bridge, named for Fred Hartman (1908-1991), the editor and publisher of the Baytown Sun from 1950 to 1974, is the longest cable-stayed bridge in Texas, and one of only two such bridges in the state, the other being the Veterans Memorial Bridge in Orange County, Texas. The construction cost of the bridge was $117.5 million.

The bridge replaced the Baytown Tunnel (of depth clearance 40 feet (12.2 m)), which had to be removed when the Houston Ship Channel was deepened to 45 feet (13.7 m), with a minimum 530 feet (161.5 m) bottom width, to accommodate larger ships. The last section of the Baytown Tunnel was removed from the Houston Ship Channel on September 14, 1999, with removal of the tunnel being the responsibility of the Texas Department of Transportation.  Source: Wikipedia



The Fred Hartman Bridge was opened for traffic on September 27, 1995. The completed bridge was honored with several awards, including the Federal �Presidential Award�, the highest bridge prize in the USA and the �Outstanding Civil Engineering Award� for 1996. More information is here and here.
The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge
The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge
The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge
The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge
The Houston Ship Channel in Houston, Texas is part of the Port of Houston; one of the United States' busiest sea ports. The channel is a conduit for ocean going vessels between the the city of Houston and the Gulf of Mexico. The channel is a widened and deepened natural watercourse. Major products such as petrochemical and Midwestern grain and transported in bulk together with general cargo. It has been used to move goods to the sea since at least 1836. The proximity to Texas oilfields led to the establishment of numerous petrochemical refineries along the waterway, such as the ExxonMobil Baytown installation on the eastern bank of the San Jacinto River.  Source: Wikipedia

Produced by TxDOT, this video tells the story of the demolition and removal of over 1000 feet of the Baytown-LaPorte Tunnel
following the opening of the Fred Hartman Bridge.
Demolition was necessary in order to deepen the Houston Ship Channel. The video is from the archives of
Sterling Municipal Library in Baytown, TX.
After the demolition removal and cleaning services had to be used to remove the debris.

*All photographs copyright OurBaytown.com and may not be published,
used or reproduced without written permission.

 

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