As cruise passenger counts continue to climb at the Port of Galveston, we have several major projects underway to improve traffic flow in and around our cruise terminals. We’re taking best practices from Cruise Terminal 10, which opened in November 2022, and incorporating them at terminals 25 and 28.

These terminals opened years before we handled the large ships and passenger volumes we see today. We’ll do the same as we plan the Cruise Terminal 16 complex set to open in late 2025.

Onsite Terminal Parking

The Cruise Terminal 10 complex, which serves Royal Caribbean ships, is designed with all cruise parking onsite. This has several benefits. It reduces the amount of cruise-related traffic on Harborside Drive because a cruise passenger turns into the cruise terminal complex and doesn’t leave until after their cruise.

Cruise Terminal 10 passengers can drop off their luggage and/or park within the terminal complex, unlike at cruise terminals 25 and 28 where passengers who park in lots off-site make two trips on Harborside if they’re dropping off luggage before they park and taking a shuttle bus to the terminal.

To help address this issue and reduce traffic on Harborside, the port is expanding its park-and-walk Express Lot adjacent to terminals 25 and 28. Once passengers turn into the terminal area, they can park and walk to their terminal.

Cruise Terminal 16 will have a cruise parking garage and surface parking, both onsite.

More Space for Traffic Queuing

Another traffic management best practice at CT 10 is providing ample lanes inside the complex for vehicles to circulate and to line up for parking or baggage drop-off. Internal roadways can accommodate hundreds of vehicles on a busy cruise day as passengers arrive, park and leave with no backups on Harborside Drive.

At terminals 25 and 28, we’re pulling up old rail lines and a fence to add traffic lanes on the south side of the terminal complex. We’ll also be trying a new traffic flow pattern to provide more queuing space for CT 25 and to move traffic more efficiently through the complex.

Our goal is to reduce or, hopefully, eliminate traffic backups on Harborside Drive on our busiest cruise days.

Managing Provisioning Trucks

As a cruise ship prepares to sail, dozens of provisioning trucks deliver food, beverages and other supplies to restock the ship. Adding these large tractor-trailer trucks into the mix with cruise passenger traffic can slow down traffic flow.

We’re working with the cruise lines that hire these trucking companies to find ways to better manage this traffic. An option for terminals 25 and 28 is to have the trucks line up and wait on a little-used port road to the west of the terminals until it’s their turn at the terminal.

Traffic Impact Studies and More

Planning for Cruise Terminal 16 will include a traffic impact analysis to determine how additional vehicles on a cruise day could impact traffic flow in and around the terminal. In addition to onsite parking and queuing lanes, cruise-related traffic will be able to use the port’s new internal roadway to the west of the terminal.

We’re also working with the city and the Texas Department of Transportation on other traffic management solutions, including traffic lights on Harborside Drive at 33rd and 16th streets.