Army Corps resident office reopens after 11 years

Published 9:00 am Saturday, April 27, 2019

The US Army Corps of Engineers hosted an open house for the new Port Arthur Resident Office on Pleasure Pier Boulevard on Friday.

After Hurricane Ike devastated the building in 2008, the office was moved inland. After appropriations for Tropical Storm and Hurricane Harvey kicked in, the Corps was able to reopen the Pleasure Island location. The 53rd district is scheduled to receive $3.9 billion in funding over the next few years.

The Port Arthur Resident Office is tasked with monitoring the channel. Resident Engineer Tim White said getting back to the location was crucial.

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“We’re so proud to serve this area,” White said. “We’re really part of a bigger mission. We’re able to respond in case of an emergency situation where there is a blockage on the channel, we are able to get out there and assess immediately.

“Working with the Coast Guard has been terrific. We have great support from Galveston. It means a lot to us to have a good, safe, working environment close to the water.”

White said the new building is sturdier and able to handle more than hurricane force winds.

“We’re high enough,” he said. “We built a building that is the safest place to be in high winds. These windows are designed to take the impact force of artillery shells, not just two-by-fours. We’d be safe here to support any emergency situation.”

Out of the $3.9 billion set to reach the district, $900 million is aimed at Port Arthur.

“A lot of what we are looking at is levee raising and putting pump stations in,” White said. “When the water is captive by the levee, it’s got to get out of there. We have great plans for the pump station. They are currently in design, and in three-to-seven years, we expect to see some of that come to bear.”

Those interested in looking at future projects from the Army Corps of Engineers can visit USArmyCorpsOfEngineers.army.net and look for “SWG” which stands for Southwestern Galveston.