Texans to observe San Jacinto Day
Submitted by Judith D’Amico
DRT Bosque River Chapter
April 21 is San Jacinto Day in Texas, commemorating the anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto. On this date in 1836, General Sam Houston and the Texas Army defeated Santa Anna’s Mexican troops, winning independence for Texas in a battle that lasted only 18 minutes. Though the battle was very short, the course was history was changed forever. San Jacinto Day was made a legal state holiday by the 14th Texas Legislature in 1874.
San Jacinto Day is also a day to honor all who fought for the independence of Texas. They were Texians native citizens and immigrant citizens; speaking Spanish, English, German, and more all with a common purpose of self-preservation and liberty.
After Hurricane Harvey made landfall in south-east Texas in 2017, the University of Houston’s Hanadi Rifai began research along the 50-mile-long Houston Ship Channel, the petrochemical industry’s main artery. Rifai and her colleagues noticed how neighborhoods adjacent to hazardous waste sites, such as where the San Jacinto River meets the channel, seemed to have a lower life expectancy. “That got us interested in a more comprehensive [national] study,” Rifai said.
In a first-of-its-kind study out Tuesday in Nature Communications, Rifai and a team of researchers found that living in a zip code in close proximity to a Superfund site may decrease average life expectancy by 0.2 years. It could be up to a year in socioeconomically challenged communities, says Rifai, who is a professor of civil and environmental engineering and the study’s lead author.
April 12, 2021 By Waterways Journal
The Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) has applied to the Eighth Coast Guard District for approval of a plan to build a replacement bridge protection system for the Interstate 10 bridge over the San Jacinto River at mile 2.5 on the San Jacinto near Channelview, Texas.
That’s the same fender system damaged in a September 2019 barge breakaway that followed torrential rain related to Tropical Storm Imelda. In that event, nine barges broke their moorings, with several barges impacting the I-10 bridge over the San Jacinto River.
According to a public notice from the U.S. Coast Guard detailing the bridge permit application, TXDOT intends to remove and replace the four dolphin structures and navigation fenders on either side of the bridge.
WASHINGTON In his new $2.25 trillion infrastructure and jobs proposal, President Joe Biden promises to fix the 10 most economically significant bridges in need of reconstruction and repair 10,000 additional smaller bridges.
But the American Jobs Plan doesn t identify which of the nation s 618,000 bridges would receive the work.
Instead, Biden s plan would create a competitive grant program for a state to make the case to the Department of Transportation that one of its large bridges is deserving of a reconstruction or replacement.
Think of it as a competition, of sorts, for states to showcase their most dilapidated or outdated bridges based on condition or inability to manage increasing traffic volumes.
Does your state have the worst bridge in America? Joe Biden wants to know Joey Garrison, USA TODAY
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WASHINGTON In his new $2.25 trillion infrastructure and jobs proposal, President Joe Biden promises to fix the 10 most economically significant bridges in need of reconstruction and repair 10,000 additional smaller bridges.
But the American Jobs Plan doesn t identify which of the nation s 618,000 bridges would receive the work.
Instead, Biden s plan would create a competitive grant program for a state to make the case to the Department of Transportation that one of its large bridges is deserving of a reconstruction or replacement.
Think of it as a competition, of sorts, for states to showcase their most dilapidated or outdated bridges based on condition or inability to manage increasing traffic volumes. Other factors could include a bridge s size or its importance to the regional or national economy.