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Texas Bridges

Port Arthur Hotels

Texas | Architecture | Bridges

The Gulfgate Bridge
AKA Martin Luther King Bridge
Port Arthur, Texas

Book Hotel Here > Port Arthur Hotels

"The Gulfgate Bridge in Port Arthur over the Sabine-Neches Ship Canal. The Bridge only has a 136 vertical Clearance and is a restriction to the Height of which a ship can safely pass under." - Capt. David R. Byrnes, Sabine Pilots

Port Arthur, Texas - Gulf Gate Bridge or Martin Luther King Bridge

The Gulfgate Bridge in Port Arthur over the Sabine-Neches Ship Canal.
Photo courtesy Capt. David R. Byrnes, May 9, 2005

Port Arthur Bridges and some notable ships that collided with them

First Bridge 1907 - fear of collapse - Pleasure Pier
1910 - 1913 Ferry
1914 - 1927 Strauss Bascule counterweighted Bridge - fire whistle blew
1932 Old Ironsides visits

Rainbow Bridge -
65 Underwater cables ripped up
66 390 feet of seawall ripped out
Gulfgate Bridge completed in 1970

Port Arthur became a port of entry in 1906 and two years later the canal was extended up the Neches River to Beaumont and Orange.

The Gulfgate Bridge (since renamed the Martin Luther King Bridge) was built in the 1960s to connect Port Arthur with Pleasure Island and Louisiana.

Port Arthur, Texas - Martin Luther King Bridge

Another view of the Martin Luther King Bridge
TE Photo, May 2003

TE Photo, May 2003

TE Photo, May 2003

The Neches River Rainbow Bridge, (1939) crosses the Neches River on State Highway 87 between Port Arthur and Orange.

© John Troesser

Jefferson County 1907 postal map showing The Neches River, Sabine Lake,
Port Arthur, Beaumont, Orange and Sabine Pass
Courtesy Texas General Land Office