Baytown, Texas - Fred Hartman Bridge

The Fred Hartman Bridge or Baytown Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge in the U.S. state of Texas. It spans the Houston Ship Channel and carries State Highway 146 between the cities of Baytown, Texas and La Porte, Texas.

The bridge, named for Fred Hartman (1908-1991), the editor and publisher of the Baytown Sun from 1950 to 1974, is the longest cable-stayed bridge in Texas, and one of only two such bridges in the state, the other being the Veterans Memorial Bridge in Orange County, Texas. The construction cost of the bridge was $117.5 million.

The bridge replaced the Baytown Tunnel (of depth clearance 40 feet (12.2 m)), which had to be removed when the Houston Ship Channel was deepened to 45 feet (13.7 m), with a minimum 530 feet (161.5 m) bottom width, to accommodate larger ships. The last section of the Baytown Tunnel was removed from the Houston Ship Channel on September 14, 1999, with removal of the tunnel being the responsibility of the Texas Department of Transportation.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• Fred Hartman Bridge
• Baytown Texas
• Houston ship channel
• La Porte

[heybuddie2010]

why does the water look so bluee??

ha its not like that at all in real life lmao

[baytownbert2]

@heybuddie2010  Hello LMAO, better check yourself, as I was in real life when I videoed it. LOL The dirty bay is not as dirty as some believe. It does get a bad rap from all the dredging that goes on there, stirring up old pollution at times.

[baytownbert2]

James, no filter at all. What you see is what it was when I shot it.

[JDW7337]

You had to have messed with video, the bridge doesn't look that good & the water is typically brown!

[dazzlingbydesigncdd]

Great video. This is what I see almost on a daily basis...

[yayayayayaya36]

DAMN Texas looks cool

[nascar51523fan]

yeah the water is ugly lol

[jkingsmill]

What kind of filter was used on this video? The water is not that blue?

[oeyesea]

I'm scared of that bridge. It had to be rebuilt several times before it was even completed because of steel imported from China not being to specified quality.

[stinkingdog101]

I am a trucker and so grateful they finally finished this bridge. The tunnel was a pain.