Sediment Cap Evaluation, Design and Permitting, Mission Bay Ferry Terminal Project: California

OUR CHALLENGE

Contaminated sediments were discovered during construction of a new ferry terminal for the Port of San Francisco. Elevated concentrations of PAHs encountered within a portion of the dredge prism required a rapid response to ensure that the project remained on schedule. To address the contamination, our team needed to prepare a conceptual design of an engineered cap and to conduct discussions with permitting agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

OUR APPROACH

We served as Engineer of Record for design of the engineered cap required to manage contaminated sediments. Our engineering team’s multilayered cap design included an erosion protection layer to protect the underlying isolation sand cap from hydrodynamic forces caused by vessel traffic, tidal currents, and storms.

OUR IMPACT

Our work provided a timely and cost-effective solution that allowed the ferry terminal project to move forward. The project will provide much-needed regional public transportation facilities and further enhance existing maritime activity along the working waterfront of San Francisco.