Pelican Island (Texas)

Pelican Island is an island located in Galveston County, Texas. It is part of the city of Galveston and is linked to Galveston Island by the Pelican Island causeway. The island is home to the Texas A&M University at Galveston as well as two museum ships—the destroyer escort USS Stewart (DE-238) and the submarine USS Cavalla (SS-244)—and Seawolf Park. Seawolf Parkway is the only street that runs across the island.

In 1965, Galveston businessman George Mitchell purchased a large parcel of land on Pelican Island and donated some of it for the permanent home of Texas A&M University at Galveston. The Intracoastal Waterway borders it to the north, separating Pelican Island from another island.

2024 partial bridge collapse
On May 15, 2024, a tugboat leaving Texas International Terminals, a container terminal next to the Pelican Island causeway, the only bridge connecting the island to the rest of Galveston, lost control of two barges it was pushing. One of the barges, operated by Martin Operating Partnership, then hit the bridge and two telephone poles at approximately 10:00 CDT (3:00 GMT) collapsing a portion of the bridge, causing a diesel fuel spill, and causing a temporary power outage on the island. Two people were knocked off of the barge or jumped off, but they were quickly rescued. As a result of the collision, the bridge was closed. The barge, which reportedly has a capacity of 30000 U.S.gal, spilled between 1000 U.S.gal and 2000 U.S.gal of oil. Some spilled oil stayed on top of the barge and did not leak into the water.

An approximate 6.5 mi span of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway was shut down around the bridge in order to help crews clean up the oil spill. Galveston County officials began evacuations for the approximately 200 people who were on the island at the time of the collapse for anyone who needed to leave the island, but warned that they would be unlikely to be able to return in the near future.