The Sam Houston Ship Channel Bridge features twin cable-stayed decks, each spanning 1,320 ft (402 m) over the Houston Ship Channel. The decks are supported by architecturally striking yet structurally complex pylons, which are joined just below the deck level and share foundations.
Designed to widen the Sam Houston Tollway, the bridge offers eight lanes for vehicular traffic and provides over 187 ft (57 m) of vertical clearance, crucial for accommodating future channel expansions by the Port of Houston. The bridge’s iconic 514 ft (157 m) tall towers, with the dynamic angles of its stay cables, create a visual experience for drivers. Supported by large diameter drilled shafts and footings, with column heights varying from 5 to 135 ft (1.5 to 41 m), the bridge ensures a navigational clearance of 175 ft (53 m), facilitating the passage of large ships. The Southbound link is being built first, and upon its completion in 2025, demolition of the existing bridge will follow, with the new Northbound bridge set for completion in 2027.
SYSTRA IBT is the Engineer of Record for the Independent Design Check of the cable-stayed structure, verifying all structural elements based on independent modeling and capacity assessment.
