Bayou Texar

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Bayou Texar is a bayou in East Pensacola, separating the East Hill neighborhood from Cordova Park and East Pensacola Heights neighborhood. It is an estuary, fed by Carpenter's Creek and a number of small springs, and empties into Pensacola Bay near the 17th Avenue railroad trestle and Wayside Park.

Environmental Issues[edit]

The Bayou is often considered dirty and unsafe. This is due to the heavy draining of storm water containing fecal bacteria into the water. Swimming in the water is often discouraged.

Bridges[edit]

The bayou is spanned in two places: to the north by 12th Avenue (after it merges with Fairfield Drive), and to the south by the Dr. Philip A. Payne Bridge, which carries Cervantes Street (US 90).

The first bridge to span Bayou Texar was a wooden span constructed in 1911 at a cost of $3,700. The wooden bridge was 1,050 feet long and 20 feet wide.[1]

At some point, the wooden bridge was replaced with a concrete bridge which connected Gadsden Street on the west bank to Cervantes Street on the east bank. Prior to the bridge approach, traffic transitioned from Cervantes to Gadsden between 15th and 16th Avenues, through what is now Andalusia Square[2].

References[edit]

  1. Pensacola Historical Society. Pensacola in Vintage Postcards. Arcadia, 2005.
  2. Image of Cervantes-to-Gadsden transition