Galveston Port Bolivar Ferry

In an article by Rhiannon Meyers of The Daily News it is reported that a new ferryboat under construction in Louisiana will be added to the Galveston-Port Bolivar fleet next year.

The $22 million boat will bring the total number of ferries chugging across the Intracoastal Waterway to six, but it’s unlikely that the new ferry will shorten wait times.

Though the 24-hour-a-day, 365-days-a-year operation employs hundreds of maintenance and repair workers, deckhands, captains, seaman, administrators and screeners, the ferries remain short-staffed, said ferry supervisor Bill Mallini.

Ferry traffic though has steadily tapered in recent years. In 1996, 2.16 million vehicles boarded the ferry; in 2006, only 2 million vehicles made the trip.

High gas prices, vehicle screenings and staff shortages have caused decreased ferry traffic, Mallini said.

The Galveston-Bolivar ferry system is the fifth largest in the United States a year, according to a national ferry report.

The ferry system, in place for almost eight decades, isn’t going away anytime soon. In October 2007, the state officially dropped plans to build a longed-for $240 million bridge connecting Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula.

One of the main reasons the ferry ridership is down is that more and more people have discovered that it is just plain easier and less stressful to avoid the ferry completely on busy weekends by going around it.

The directions are: From IH 10 east or west to Winnie, Texas.  At Winnie, turn south on Hwy 124 and head south on 124 to the beach! Turn right, (going west) for about 14 miles thru Gilchrist to Crystal Beach and the Texas Crab Festival grounds at  Gregory Park.