GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Causeway Collapse Halts Tourism, Building

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TX-This morning, Texas Economic Development officials will meet with elected officials in Port Isabel to discuss state assistance and recovery from Saturday’s collapse of a section of the 2.37-mile Queen Isabella Causeway, which has temporarily halted tourism and construction in the seaside vacation destination in South Texas.

Linda Whitby, executive vice president of the South Padre Economic Development Corp., tells GlobeSt.com the results of the weekend catastrophe could be disastrous. The EDC estimates each tourist spends an average of $384.17 per day in South Padre. About $11 million per week comes in at this time of year from the estimated 4,000 tourists, according to Whitby. Texas’ winter season, which runs from November to February, brings in just under one billion dollars. The construction time to fix the causeway is currently estimated at 60 days.

Whitby says South Padre Island’s economic impact is such that it paid Cameron County and the state nearly $30 million in 2000 taxes. Taxing bodies could incur up to a $10-million loss due to an interruption of 60 to 90 days.