A popular Matagorda Beach fishing site, the pier at Jetty Park, now only attracts passers-by who stop to read the blue sign nailed to one of four boards keeping people from entering the quarter-mile fishing site: "Jetty Pier is determined to be unsafe due to storm damage and is closed."

Closed indefinitely, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District, which is responsible for maintenance and repair of the pier.

The Corps doesn't have money in its budget to replace the pier and must wait for storm damage funds from its headquarters in Washington, D.C., before they can replace the pier, said Marilyn Uhrich, a Corps' public affairs specialist.

"Money is a deciding factor on this and we don't have the money right now," she said.

The estimated damage costs at the mouth of the Colorado River, including pier damage and 300 cubic yards of emergency dredging following the storm, total $750,000.

Beyond that, Corps' officials don't have an estimate on repair costs and have only done a visual inspection of the pier, said Simon DeSoto, the Corps' Matagorda-based lockmaster.

"Once we can get out into the Gulf, we'll know a lot more," DeSoto said.

All that has been determined so far is that the pilings, or concrete support structures, are all that holds up the few remaining walkway and handrail planks on the pier.

The last time the 20-year-old pier was damaged was in 1998 when Hurricane Frances destroyed the walkway, handrails and concrete pilings. The cost to repair and extend the structure cost $750,000 and took a little more than a year.

Following Hurricane Frances, two 20-foot sections of fiberglass grading, or walkways, were installed and recently withstood Hurricane Claudette.

The ideal reconstruction would consist of using all fiberglass instead of board planks, DeSoto said, but it is all dependent on the amount of funding designated for the project.

DeSoto said he couldn't estimate a time frame for the reconstruction and it might not be the same as after Hurricane Frances because the areas affected are different and will require different kinds of repair.

"There was actual concrete damage in Frances. There doesn't appear to be concrete structural damage now," he said.

He added that he has received numerous calls from fishermen regarding a time frame for the repairs of the pier.

"They want the fishing pier rebuilt because it is an excellent fishing area right by the jetty. Fish are plentiful there," he said.

"Hundreds of thousands of people" annually use the pier to fish for trout, bull redfish and sharks.

But Uhrich said repairing the pier is relatively low on the Corps' list of projects.

"Navigations are our top priority; the walkway is fairly low priority," she said. "We understand it is a popular place and it's not that we don't want to fix it, it's that we don't have the money."

Billy Gafford, a retired Matagorda resident who used the pier almost daily, said the Corps' explanation of a lack of money is just an excuse not to repair the pier.

"They got the money. They're just dragging their feet," he said. "If you'd fix it, they'd have a place to fish. There'd be a ton of fishermen down there right now if we can just get in it."

County Judge Greg Westmoreland said he has written letters to Corps' officials requesting it be repaired as soon as possible.

In the meantime, county residents can look forward to the addition of another pier to be built parallel to the Colorado River at Matagorda.

The lighted pier is part of several additions proposed by the Lower Colorado River Authority on 1,600 acres of land at the mouth of the river.

Kirk Cowan, an LCRA employee in resource planning and development, said the pier could be complete in two years.