Corps to open mouth of San Bernard River

BRAZORIA, TX -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday it will open the mouth of the San Bernard River so that it flows directly into the Gulf of Mexico, a strategy that it said should make the area safer for commercial navigation.

The river's mouth has been closed off by a sandbar which "forces water to go somewhere else," said Martie Cenkci, chief of public affairs for the Corps of Engineers' Galveston District.

"One of our missions is to ensure safe navigation of America's waterways," she said.

Officials offered no details on the cost of the project or when it might begin. It will supersede a $300,000 Texas Department of Transportation plan to connect the river to the Gulf by way of a canal, said Larry Heckathorn, the department's Brazoria County area engineer.

 

TxDOT will offer assistance to the corps plan, Heckathorn said. "We're here to help," Heckathorn told The Facts for a story to be published in its Friday editions.

The decision was welcome news to Roy and Jan Edwards, who started the Friends of the River San Bernard last year to push for opening the river's mouth.

"We're going to have a party and watch the river flow," Roy Edwards said the newspaper.