Island City Comes Back Stronger After Harvey

Port Aransas is on barrier sand reefs that stretch from Galveston to Mexico off the Texas coast.

PORT ARANSAS, TX—Mustang Island is a barrier island on the Texas Gulf Coast. The island is 18 miles long, stretching from Corpus Christi north to Port Aransas, oriented northeast southwest, with the Gulf of Mexico on the east and south, and Corpus Christi Bay on the north and west. Mustang Island State Park encompasses the southern third of the island, including 3,955 acres and 5 miles of beach. The island’s southern end is connected by State Highway 361 to Padre Island and via the JFK Causeway to the mainland.

At the northern tip of Mustang Island, Port Aransas is on a string of barrier sand reefs that stretch from Galveston to Mexico. Transportation from the mainland to the northern end of the island is provided by the TxDOT ferry system. Port Aransas is served by five 20-car ferries and three 28-car ferries that bring more than 1 million vehicles to the island each year. A new ferry headquarters building was completed in March 2015, and on the horizon are ferry-stacking lanes in the area of Port Street that will change the approaches coming to and leaving Port Aransas.