State Highway 87 (SH 87) runs for between

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

(at a terminus shared with

Interstate 45 Interstate 45 (I-45) is a major Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Texas. While most Interstate routes which have numbers ending in "5" are cross-country north–south routes, I-45 is comparatively short, with the ...

and Spur 342) to

U.S. Highway 59 U.S. Route 59 (US 59) is a north–south United States highway (though it was signed east–west in parts of Texas). A latecomer to the U.S. numbered route system, US 59 is now a border-to-border route, part of the NAFTA superhighway, NAFTA ...

and U.S. Highway 84 in

Timpson, Texas Timpson is a city in Shelby County, Texas, United States. The population was 989 at the 2020 census. The community is named after T.B Timpson, a railroad engineer. History Timpson was founded in 1885 upon the arrival of the Houston, East an ...

. Highway 87 has a notable stretch between

Sea Rim State Park Sea Rim State Park is a state park in southeast Texas. The park is located on the Gulf of Mexico in southern Jefferson County, south of Port Arthur and just west of Sabine Pass. The park was closed for several years due to extensive damage fro ...

and

High Island, Texas High Island is an unincorporated community located in the Bolivar Peninsula census-designated place, Galveston County, Texas, United States. The community is located in the extreme eastern part of the county on Bolivar Peninsula, less than one mi ...

that has been washed out repeatedly over the decades and has been closed continuously since 1990. Portions of this stretch were less than away from high tide in the 1990s. The storm surge from Hurricane Jerry which made landfall on October 15, 1989, left the highway in a state of disrepair. While talk about rebuilding the destroyed segment of State Highway 87 happens from time to time (for example
in 1998
, there is no serious effort underway to do so. A section of highway which is now known as the Warden Michael C. Pauling Memorial Highway stretches from the Intracoastal Waterway Bridge to Sabine Pass on Texas 87.

History

SH 87 was originally designated on August 21, 1923 from

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

to Milam. The route was the previously proposed to be SH 8A before being renumbered. On September 16, 1926, SH 87 was extended to Port Arthur, though this was not taken over for maintenance until January 1, 1927. An extension via High Island to Galveston was planned to be taken over when TxDOT could afford it. On March 19, 1930, the north end was shortened to Hemphill. On August 1, 1930, SH 87 extended back to Milam, replacing SH 21 Spur. On May 5, 1931, it was extended again, this time to High Island. On November 22, 1933, SH 87 extended to Carter's Store. On March 17, 1936, SH 87 replaced the section of SH 124 from High Island to Galveston. On December 22, 1936, SH 87 was extended to its current terminus in Timpson. On May 23, 1939, SH 87 Spur was designated to Wiergate. On September 26, 1939, The spurs were changed to Spur 24 (Wiergate) and Spur 69 (Deweyville). On August 20, 1952, SH 87 was no longer concurrent with US 96 from Center to Carter's Store. In 1970, road machinery used in its construction accidentally dug up several cannonballs and crumbling kegs of black powder about 10 miles west of Sabine Pass. Further excavation eventually produced more kegs of black powder and several hundred cannonballs. The ammunition had been buried there by Confederate soldiers in what were the ditches of

Fort Manhassett Fort Manhassett was a group of earthen fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is de ...

in 1865. Fort Manhassett was a series of earthworks constructed by the Confederacy in 1863 to defend the western approaches to Sabine Pass.Fort Manhassett: A Forgotten Chapter in the History of Sabine Pass, Texas
/ref> On January 28, 1987, SH 87 was extended 4.1 miles west to Spur 342, replacing a section of

US 75 U.S. Route 75 is a major north–south U.S. Highway that extends in the central United States. The highway's northern terminus is in Noyes, Minnesota, at the Canadian border, where it once continued as Manitoba Highway 75 on the other side o ...

, which was decommissioned south of

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

. On November 19, 1926, a spur, SH 87A was designated from Bronson to Hemphill. On March 19, 1930, this route was erroneously omitted from the state highway log. On November 30, 1932, this road was added back to the state highway log, but was renumbered as SH 184. Another SH 87A was designated on November 19, 1928, from Deweyville to

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. This was redesignated as Spur 69 on September 26, 1939.

Failed bridge proposal

Two ferry routes, and up to five ferries, currently operate on

Galveston Bay Galveston Bay ( ) is a bay in the western Gulf of Mexico along the upper coast of Texas. It is the seventh-largest estuary in the United States, and the largest of seven major estuaries along the Texas Gulf Coast. It is connected to the Gulf of ...

, taking passengers from Port Bolivar to

Galveston Island Galveston Island ( ) is a barrier island on the Texas Gulf Coast in the United States, about southeast of Houston. The entire island, with the exception of Jamaica Beach, is within the city limits of the City of Galveston in Galveston County. T ...

. Because of increasing traffic, especially during summer months,

TxDOT The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT ) is a government agency in the United States, American state of Texas. Though the public face of the agency is generally associated with the construction and maintenance of the state's immense state ...

was studying the possibility of building a bridge to connect Galveston Island or Pelican Island to the Bolivar Peninsula; however, the decision was made not to build the bridge.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{commons category-inline, Texas State Highway 87 087 Transportation in Chambers County, Texas Transportation in Galveston, Texas Transportation in Galveston County, Texas Transportation in Jefferson County, Texas Transportation in Newton County, Texas Transportation in Orange County, Texas Transportation in Sabine County, Texas Transportation in Shelby County, Texas