SOUTH PADRE ISLAND – Construction is underway on the first section of the eventual pier into the Gulf.

The new 1,000-foot pier will be at Clayton’s Beach Bar. The bar owner Clayton Braschear says it took seven years to get the pier approved.

This momentum will only last for another two weeks, when sea turtle nesting season starts. Once that begins, the Federal Army Corps of Engineers permit that allowed the project requires construction to stop for six months. They don’t want to affect any nesting sea turtles that might land on the beach.

Braschear says it’ll take a couple of years to complete since they can only work on the pier six months a year.

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