AUSTIN— Today, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., announced that construction of the new Rollover Pass Pier has begun. The Rollover Pass Project is one of the Texas General Land Office's (GLO) major coastal preservation efforts.
"As Land Commissioner and a Texan who spent over a decade living on our beautiful coast, the GLO's mission to protect and preserve the Texas coast is one of my top priorities," said Commissioner Buckingham. "The Rollover Pass project, which includes constructing a new fishing pier, building Bayside Park and restoring the Lauderdale Boat Ramp and Dock, is a significant milestone in coastal preservation. This project will strengthen vital habitats for marine life and enhance recreational opportunities for coastal communities and Bolivar Peninsula tourists. I look forward to continued collaboration with Galveston County on this essential project as the GLO works to secure victories for our coast and the people of Texas.
Construction on Rollover Pass Project, one of the Texas General Land Office's major coastal preservation efforts, began in mid-March and is expected to last for the next 15 months.
The 1,000-foot-long pier will be lighted and handicap accessible with a bait shop, fish cleaning station, visitor parking lot, and a dune walkover. Construction is expected to last for the next 15 months, with an estimated completion date of July 2026.
The GLO met with the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Friday, January 31, 2025 to assess hazardous debris removal efforts. The removal of sheet metal walls and beach debris from Caplen to Gilchrist was completed on February 1, 2025.
Rollover Pass was cut into the Bolivar Peninsula in 1955 by the Texas Game and Fish Commission, now the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD), at the peninsula’s narrowest point. The pass connected the Gulf of Mexico with Rollover Bay and was intended to improve water quality and salinity in the bay and help with fish migration. Unfortunately, opening the pass created damaging side effects that threatened public and private property and cost Texas and U.S. taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
These side effects included negatively impacting Rollover Bay and nearby estuaries that contain critical fish and oyster habitats, worsening erosion that threatened the safety of surrounding sidewalks, and creating sand and sediment build up in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, a vital transit route. This build up required annual dredging, costing taxpayers from $600,000 to $1 million. As the primary hurricane evacuation route, Rollover Pass could have trapped Bolivar residents in a rising flood if the vulnerable State Highway 87 bridge was damaged. For these reasons, the GLO began closure of the pass in 2019, which has since been completed.
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