When Corpus Christi City Council found out the asphalt on the closed portion of Shoreline Boulevard would be torn up to plant these palm trees, they asked contractors to come up with an alternate. The city might reopen Shoreline, which runs through the newly named Water’s Edge Park. Photo by JoAnna Kopp
A portion of Shoreline Boulevard that has been closed to traffic to make way for a bigger, better seaside park in downtown Corpus Christi will be reopened during the holiday season. A traffic study will be conducted while the road is opened, a suggestion by city staff at a December event in City Hall.
Mayor Joe McComb raised the Shoreline Boulevard issue after noticing that gates had been placed at the Cooper’s Alley intersection. The gates block the street, which has been closed to traffic for two years.
The gates will be removed, Assistant City Manager Keith Selman told McComb at the meeting. He suggested temporarily reopening the street for a traffic study. The number of vehicles using the section from Kinney Street to Cooper’s Alley will be handcounted during that time.
McComb first questioned the closing at a city council meeting a year ago. He had just been elected an at-large member of the council and had sent an email to City Manager Margie Rose telling her to immediately “hold, halt, cease and desist” any further work on the park.
At the time, contractors were preparing to tear up the asphalt to plant palm trees. Several members of the council chastised McComb for the email. District 1 council member Carolyn Vaughn said she was offended by the tone and intention, saying it showed disrespect to the city manager and pointing out that he did not have the authority to stop work on the park.
Council members Michael Hunter and Ben Molina agreed with Vaughn, but in the end, the council agreed with McComb not to tear up the street — just in case. The trees were planted along the edge between what could be a bike lane and lanes for vehicular traffic.
In the year since that discussion, McComb was elected mayor in a special election after then-Mayor Dan McQueen resigned.
The road closure was part of the Shoreline Boulevard realignment project approved by the council in 2013 and implemented in 2015. Funding comes from a 2008 voter-approved bond. The 30-acre park, which was once site of City Coliseum and City Hall, now includes a dog park, new playscapes, food truck hookups and new benches, shade and lighting. New restrooms are also under construction.
Now named The Water’s Edge, the park will be split in two by traffic with the lanes opened, a move that could upset supporters of the Downtown Farmers Market at the Art Center of Corpus Christi.
Supporters of keeping the road closed to enlarge the park and keep pedestrians safe attended a June city council meeting to address the subject. Speaking for the group was Joe Hilliard, who sits on the farmers market board of directors.
“In case you are considering [reopening Shoreline], I would suggest you come to the Downtown Farmers Market, where, every week, we turn the Old Shoreline into a party and merge our largest assets with real quality of life,” he said. “Children are dancing on Old Shoreline. There are food trucks set up on Old Shoreline. There are tables set up on Old Shoreline. There’s activity, there’s commerce.”
The rerouting of Shoreline Boulevard, now 2 years old, was the first major change to that part of the road since the bayfront area was created in 1941.
