GALVESTON — Some people say the scalloped top edge of the concrete wall along the inbound lanes of the causeway makes them seasick when they ride by.

Photo by Kevin Bartram

Causeway wall

Others complain the wall is blocking the view of Galveston Bay. Still, others complain that when the sun is in just the right spot, the scalloped edge causes a strobe effect that makes it hard to see.

Letter writers and callers to The Daily News have been wondering what designers had in mind when they finished the wall with the series of humps, rather than a straight line.

Was it some sort of cutting-edge design to discourage people from looking at the wall?

State transportation officials say that while it’s a good idea to look at the road rather than the wall, the scalloped edge serves aesthetic, not practical, purposes.

They note also that any discomfort or disappointment with the view probably will abate when the project is complete.

As it stands now, both north- and southbound traffic crosses what will be the northbound span when the project is complete.

So people driving south are next to a wall, rather than a railing, like they will be when the project is complete in about March 2008, said Norm Wigginton, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Transportation.

When both spans are open, a wall will run down the middle of the two spans — along the left lanes both ways.

And once the second span is opened, vehicles will be separated from the wall by a 12-foot shoulder, which may reduce the seasickness, Wigginton said.

The wave motifs are part of a larger aesthetic package that includes wavy light poles, pylons, landscaping and maybe some original painting, Wigginton said.

Painting subcontractor Scott Derr, whose job it will be to paint both spans, has told the state he’d like to paint murals on 60 feet of each span, Wigginton said.

Derr already has experimented with ship paintings on the span now open, Wigginton said. Mural work would not be part of the paid contract, but would be thrown in free, Wigginton said.