Texas - Has anyone biked from Surfside to Galveston crossing toll bridge?

I am planning a double century to leave from Houston down to Freeport/Surfside and then up to Galveston. I've ridden to Freeport a couple times and have a great route down Almeda Rd/521 to business 288. But I was wondering if anyone has any experience riding on the Blue Water Highway on the coast north of Surfside, and then crossing the toll bridge to Galveston's west end. I want to confirm that bicycles are allowed on the toll bridge (I know they are not on the I-45 causeway).

I searched and found this thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=292496) which has a helpful post by McDave which says: I wouldn't be afraid to cross the San Luis Pass bridge. It's still a $2 toll bridge but it's not that long and it's level so you wouldn't be holding up what little traffic there is for long. It, and the Blue Water Hwy (2 lanes no shoulders) leading to the bridge only get busy on holiday weekends.

If anyone has ever ridden this stretch of road I would be glad to hear about your experiences. Or even if you have driven it and have more to add. A friend and I would be riding on a Friday, and would be crossing the bridge around 10AM-12 noon, so hopefully wouldn't be too much traffic. I'd hate to get all that way and up to the bridge and then told, sorry, can't cross on the bike. I've googled the toll bridge, but can't get any helpful info to come up.

You might want to delay your ride.
The roads in Galveston and Brazoria County's are full of hazards as well as full of construction vehicles with very tired workers.
Three of us have been daily riding in the areas since the hurricane.
Galveston is not ready for bicycles yet.

I was planning to go on a charity ride down there ("Ride the Coast") and I think it goes across the San Luis bridge. But I don't know if that means it's generally open.

I don't find much about the bridge online. I do find that the "Operating Authority" is Galveston County Road District 1.

The road between San Luis Pass and Surfside has a number of impassable areas. The Gulf owns parts of where the roadway was from the information I've seen on fishing websites. Both the west end of Galveston Island and the above area are not places to be playing right now. Its best to stay away and let those people get on with putting their lives and homes back together. Click on the thumbnail for a photo of Bluewater Highway as it now looks. .


http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/4964/bluewaterhighwayqf5.th.jpg (http://img397.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bluewaterhighwayqf5.jpg)http://img397.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)

Jeez mac...you need to get out from under your rock more.

Wow, thanks for the photo. I rode to Quintana Beach this past Friday and was surprised at how good of condition the roads were -- no sand or debris on the roads. I thought give it a few more weeks perhaps stuff up north would be in a little better condition.

If you mean Bolivar, forget about it. That's major disaster. The best coastal rides are going to be along the middle and lower coast for the near future.

No, not Bolivar, I thought that area got hit worse than the area from Surfside to Galveston. I meant just north of Surfside and not quite all the way into Galveston maybe as far as one of the beach pocket parks. I was without power and internet for 2 weeks at both my home and work and was surprised when I got back up to find out they were still deciding whether or not to do the Bike Around the Bay ride. I figured if they had hopes of the Bolivar ferries running and roads up in that area in good enough condition to ride that the roads farther south would be in much better condition.


Jeez mac...you need to get out from under your rock more.

Uhh, no power or internet for 2 weeks. What's your excuse for lacking social skills?

That picture of the "Bluewater Highway"- is that the road between Surfside and Galveston? I was thinking the pictures I had seen like that were from Bolivar Peninsula and over that direction.

As for staying away- keep checking. I remember in the months after 9/11, the message was "come to NY"- their tourist industry was suffering badly. You don't necessarily do a tourist area a favor by staying away.

The picture was of the Bluewater. As I understand, it was taken near San Luis Pass. Actually, except for Rollover Pass, I think the Bolivar road faired a bit better, except for sand piled on the roadway.

I found one of those fishing sites mentioned above that had this link (http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/ike/). From the photos, several sections of the bluewater highway are definitely covered with sand, although you can't tell if the actual road is broken up and missing from these photos. I could always go to Surfside and just see how far I could ride north, I suppose.

What was throwing me was that I didn't realize that stretch of highway had a name, I thought it just had a number, so "Bluewater Highway" didn't tell me anything. Yahoo maps show a Hwy 257 in addition to the Bluewater name.

Lol...a lot of us are a long way from the 'going on a bike ride' stage of recovering from Ike. If you are from Houston, you should know that, thus the comment.

Lol...a lot of us are a long way from the 'going on a bike ride' stage of recovering from Ike. If you are from Houston, you should know that, thus the comment.

For the life of me I cannot figure out what you are trying to say.

And just how does any of that relate to my original post?

Read on a fishing website that the San Luis bridge is open now. Apparently, they're now letting people go on the west end of the island. The same poster said he hadn't been across the bridge and did not know how far one could drive.

^^ thanks for that. I talked to my cycling buddy today and we decided to ride to Surfside in a couple weeks and then will see how far we can go north on the Blue Water Highway. If road conditions get to the point where they are not suitable for a road bike we'll just turn around.

Talked to another friend of mine who said he went dove hunting on the west end of Galveston on Saturday. He came down I-45. Said the vegetation is dead on the island from the salt water. He drove around Galveston to survey it. He's a Houston native and goes to Galveston all the time. He said it was really sad how things looked. He never did say how far down he drove on the west end, and I didn't think to ask.

I'd be surprised if they saw many birds. The stock tanks and ponds are still salty I would guess

Jeez mac...you need to get out from under your rock more.

Can anyone else still remember how polite Texas was before we got knee-deep in yankees?

tcs

I saw a good while back where the Bluewater Highway had reopened and finally had the chance to drive through today. The highway is all in fine shape. There are some areas where the landscape appears to have been rearranged, but if you hadn't been through before, you likely wouldn't notice that anything had happened. Just driving into Galveston and then out via the causeway, you actually see very little hurricane damage- 3 or 4 structures stood out. Anyway, for cycling, it's in about as good shape as it ever was.