Inside/Out Newsletter | Autumn 2015 | Issue 59

INSIDE/OUT ISSUE 59

AUTUMN

NEWSLETTER

OCTOBER 2015

Makah Tribe Commercial Dock Replacement Rapid Pier Construction to the Rescue Replacement of the aging commercial fishing dock was crucial to sustaining the community’s livelihood and economy.

When the Makah Tribe’s 65-year-old deteriorating commercial fishing dock needed replacement, the Port of Neah Bay called upon BergerABAM in the summer of 2013 to design and coordinate the in-water work permits for a project to replace their deteriorated commercial fishing dock—an important asset to the tribe and port’s economy.

An ancient Native American tribe, the Makah have depended on fishing in and around Neah Bay, Washington, for over 4,000 years. Today, 50 percent of the economy derives from ocean resources, with about $10 million worth of fish crossing the Tribe’s commercial dock every year. More than 90 small businesses depend on the commercial fishing dock for their livelihoods. In addition, an oil spill response fleet is stationed in Neah Bay because of the very active commercial shipping that travels through the Salish Sea to the ports of Puget Sound and British Columbia.

The original timber dock was constructed in 1948 and had been used for ice production, fish loading, unloading, and processing.

In 1977, a fire burned most of the buildings on the dock and required substantial rebuilding at the time. The dock was in poor condition, had exceeded its useful life, and needed to be replaced. Originally, the Port intended to begin construction on a replacement in the summer of 2014, allowing approximately one year for planning, design, permitting, and bidding.

The newly constructed Makah Tribe commercial dock

However, in August 2013, a forklift fell through a deteriorated section of the dock, severely injuring the operator and causing the dock to be condemned. When the Port and the fishing community tried to fix another semi-abandoned old dock to use as a temporary facility until the new commercial dock was complete, a fire was accidentally started in November of that year, and the temporary dock burned to the waterline. The community had no commercial facilities to conduct business.

With the main dock and facility and the temporary dock now unavailable, it was imperative for the Port of Neah Bay to expedite replacement of this vital economic resource as quickly as possible for the economic health of the community. (continued on page 2)

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This meant that BergerABAM now had to create the conceptual design quickly and fast track the permitting, engineering, and bidding process for the replacement dock.

The BergerABAM team also had to consider “the Big One”—the big earthquake expected to arise out of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a well-known active fault line just off the west coast from British Columbia to northern California. Neah Bay’s close proximity to this fault line plus the presence of silty sand below the bay meant that the dock had to be designed for soil liquefaction during an earthquake.

Environmental concerns were also addressed. The civil design elements for the commercial fishing dock and upland development for the port included a unique method of capturing and treating stormwater runoff on the dock and trestle to avoid costly pumping of the water back to land for treatment and discharge, as well as drainage design for upland development.

Improvements also included the upland utility design for the watermain feed to the existing system and a sanitary sewer forcemain, as well as the design of a new access road to the trestle. Concrete pile caps were located a minimum of 1 foot higher than the mean higher high water mark to reduce corrosion from saltwater splash and to allow for future sea level rise.

The dock was detailed to be expandable in the future, saving cost and materials for future remodeling and additions.

Nine months of design were compressed to six weeks.

Piling was preordered and available immediately upon contract award. Demolition and pile driving started on 26 December 2013. All in-water work was complete by the work-window closure in February. From January to September, the deck was placed and the building and ice plant were constructed on the dock.

Makah Tribe Commercial Dock illuminated at dusk

Another challenge was that all in-water work had to be complete before the 15 February 2014 in-water work closure. BergerABAM worked with the Port and Tribe to design, permit, and construct the pier in less than a year. This was no easy task; in-water work permits can typically take 12 to18 months to obtain. The expedited permitting was successfully completed in just 80 days.

Because of the local community’s heavy dependence on the commercial dock for its livelihood, design and construction had to be quickly implemented. The pier was designed using the BergerABAM innovative “rapid pier construction” framing system using steel pipe piles, precast pile caps, and precast deck elements developed to minimize construction time and cost at this remote location in the extreme northwest corner of Washington State. Regarding seismic stability, it was determined that the best solution to maintain stability, life, and safety during a major earthquake was to size the piles for an increased unsupported length below the mudline and drive them approximately 90 feet into the earth.

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The 120-foot-long, two-lane dock now has a new ice machine capable of holding 110 tons of ice and has five off-loading terminals; it only had two on the old dock.

The new dock will allow sorting, packing, and shipping directly from the dock onto semi-trucks instead of the small forklifts that were the only cargo-handling vehicles allowed because the old dock could not support the large trucks.

The new pier was completed in September 2014 and blessed by the Makah Tribe in a formal ceremony on 10 October 2014. The project was successfully designed, permitted, bid, and constructed within approximately one year, which is nearly unheard of in current waterfront construction.

The Makah Tribe Commercial Dock Replacement project recently received the 2015 Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute (COPRI) Project Excellence Award, Small Project category, from the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the 2015 Engineering Excellence Bronze Award from American Council of Engineering Companies (Washington State).

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Strategic Plans—a Game Changer for Oregon Ports One of the busiest seaports in Oregon recently unveiled final plans to expand its essential rail and maritime business over the next 20 years.

In response to Oregon’s state mandate that ports maintain strategic business plans to leverage their market opportunities and support economic growth, the Port of Coos Bay Board of Commissioners put the final stamp of approval on a new 20-year strategic plan in July.

The plan promotes optimal use of Coos Bay’s deepwater port to enhance the economy and quality of life in the region through the expansion of maritime commerce opportunities; development and preservation of marine industrial sites; and investment in infrastructure, including marine, roadway, and rail improvements.

With more than 1.5 million tons of cargo crossing the channel annually, the Port of Coos Bay is a major shipping hub for wood chip and timber exports. The port also enjoys an abundance of waterfront property and the Coos Bay rail line, a 134-mile rail connection to Eugene, Oregon, and the Class 1 National Freight Rail system that reopened in 2011. Since then, the number of rail cars has grown from zero to 7,500 in operation. It’s not enough, however. The Port wants to grow rail business to help ensure economic stability. The plan suggests adding one or two “unit trains” per day. These mile-long trains of 100 or more cars would each carry a single commodity from its source to a destination, such as the port and a planned export marine terminal.

In addition to rail line enhancements, the plan leverages use of the Port’s assets to expand commercial fishing, local commerce, and recreational and tourism opportunities. Infrastructure and facility improvements will help to retain existing clients and expand development opportunities across all business lines around the port.

Scott Keillor, of BergerABAM, was responsible for all elements of the Port’s strategic planning process, including 18 months of extensive research, preparation of the business plan documents, public outreach, facilitation of open houses, stakeholder interviews, and Port Commission and staff meetings.

Keillor, who has developed 12 strategic business plans for ports in Oregon and one in Washington, served as a guest speaker at the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (PNWA) summer conference on 23 June

The Port of Coos Bay Rail Link fully restored service to its 134-mile rail line in 2013

2015 in Hood River, Oregon. He provided insight on the benefits of strategic plans and how outlining elements of success, including an example that resulted in rebuilding of the Garibaldi wharf on Tillamook Bay. Successful plans include stakeholder input, market demand, facilities assessment, a capital improvement plan, key projects, policies, and implementation strategies—all of which help to obtain funding and keep projects moving toward a defined vision.

The Port of Coos Bay is one of many Oregon ports taking advantage of state funds to develop a strategic business plan. The Port of Garibaldi finalized the first state-approved strategic plan under the Oregon statewide plan in 2010. Garibaldi’s plan included a vision for the port, a property management strategy, a parks master plan, Editors/Contributors and a new wharf that resulted in $6.5 million in Lynn Enebrad grants.

Karen Harbaugh

So, what happens after the strategic business plan is approved and in place? The plan acts as a roadmap to direct the vision for growth, build partnerships, create competitive development sites, build businesses, implement park and environmental plans, and obtain funding.

Keillor advises ports to first identify a project champion, diligently seek funding, and research grant requirements. Showing stakeholder interest in the project early on and securing initial funding are keys to establishing trust of grant providers. As Keillor concluded in his PNWA presentation, “Everyone wants to fund the last piece of the project puzzle.”

Amanda Schweickert Renée Stiehl Dee Young Design and Production Lynn Enebrad To update your contact information, please e-mail newsletter@abam.com

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Robert Harn Receives 2015 T.Y. Lin Award Harn’s technical paper on seismic design alternatives for prestressed concrete piers is considered an important reference in the design and construction of marine structures.

Robert Harn, a senior project manager with BergerABAM, has been awarded the 2015 Robert Harn T.Y. Lin Award by the Structural Senior Project Manager Engineering Institute for his technical paper, “Seismic Stability of Marine Piers Built with Prestressed Concrete Piles.”

The award will be formally presented on 8 November at the 2015 American Concrete Institute (ACI) Concrete Convention and Exposition in Denver, Colorado.

T.Y. Lin, an eminent prestressed concrete pioneer, endowed the award to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) to recognize outstanding engineers and their contributions to the field of prestressed concrete. The award is presented each year for the best professional paper authored or coauthored by members of ASCE in various professional publications during a 12-month period. Harn, along with his coauthor Stuart Stringer (formerly of BergerABAM), joins the list of previous BergerABAM recipients of the T. Y. Lin Award. They are Dr. Lee Marsh (2014), Catrina Walter (2013), Bob Mast (1969,1973), Charles Dolan (1973), and Arthur Anderson (1970).

Harn has provided seismic structural design and analysis for numerous waterfront projects, including the Broadway Pier seismic retrofit in San Diego, CA (pictured)

The paper, published in the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute Journal and by the ACI in 2013, investigates the stability of pile-supported marine piers during earthquakes and identifies the conditions that can

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cause piers to collapse. Additionally, the paper analyzes different alternatives for the prevention of a pier’s collapse and proposes designs to help reduce potential for collapse.

During review of the paper, the awards committee made particular note of the paper’s importance to the construction of marine structures that have different design requirements and challenges from buildings because of the way these structures are used and the particular ground conditions on which they are built. As the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti and Chile and the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan have shown, loss of port facilities can have a devastating effect on the post-earthquake recovery effort and lives of millions of people. Therefore, increasing the safety and stability of port structures, such as piers and wharves, is important to ensure business and economic continuity during and after an earthquake.

Piers are pile-supported platforms constructed perpendicular or nearly perpendicular to the shore. Under seismic attack, large sway forces and displacements can be expected in piers due to the long slender piles supporting the deck.

Additional swaying forces are generated as the weight of the deck moves relative to the ground, further amplifying the motions that can lead to collapse of the pier if the deck is sufficiently heavy, the displacements are large, or the piles are so heavily damaged that they do not have the strength to recenter the deck during or after the earthquake. The paper identifies conditions, such as ground motion characteristics, gravity loading, pier geometry, and inelastic demands, that increase the risk of global side-sway collapse, and proposes design considerations to help mitigate the threat of collapse.

The origin of his research for the paper can be attributed to Harn’s work on the ASCE committee that developed the recently published ASCE 61-14, Seismic Design of Piers and Wharves.

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“As the document evolved, it became apparent to me that one of the code provisions related to the fracture of reinforcing bars in the critical pile-to-deck connections, although appropriate for marginal wharves with short landside piles, might not be adequate for piers in deeper water,” said Harn.

With funding from BergerABAM and the assistance of Dr. Lee Marsh and Dr. Steve Schneider, Harn and Stringer were able to conduct the research and analysis necessary to develop a simple procedure for users of ASCE 61-14 to identify when a pier is potentially at risk from instability due to dowel bar fracture.

As a senior project manager with BergerABAM for the past 34 years, Harn has authored or coauthored 18 papers on the seismic design of marine structures.

“Although Stuart and I have our names on the T.Y. Lin Award this year, it should be considered an award for BergerABAM; particularly the waterfront group, which has an unbelievable amount of expertise and experience,” says Harn. “To be able to reach out and get sound advice from my colleagues is truly amazing!”

Amanda Schweickert Recognized as Top Young Industry Professional Schweickert’s experience on transit structures and sustainable design makes her a stand-out as one of the Northwest’s top young engineers.

Engineering News-Record (ENR) Northwest has selected Amanda Schweickert, of BergerABAM, as one of 10 professionals named in ENR Northwest’s Top Young Construction Industry Professionals.

These engineers were selected among contenders from Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. Judged by three industry professionals, the ENR Top Young Construction Industry Professional program recognizes industry members under the age of 40 who have made significant contributions to their profession, their community, and their companies.

The common trait ENR looks for in these contenders is a sense of enterprise. As a project engineer at BergerABAM, Schweickert has become a sustainability specialist and contributed to a business development plan that has helped BergerABAM focus on sustainable design. In addition, she has served as moderator at the first International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure and cofounded and chaired the Sustainability Committee for the ASCE Seattle section, working to promote sustainable infrastructure.

Schweickert is also involved in activities that help schools become more “green” and speaks about green infrastructure to various groups, such as the Women’s Transportation Seminar and ASCE. She was the project manager who led the ASCE Sustainability Committee team to win first place in Tacoma’s Green Infrastructure

Challenge for the Port of Tacoma redevelopment project.

Amanda Schweickert Project Engineer

Schweickert was one of the first LEED-credentialed staff at BergerABAM and the second credentialed Envision® sustainability professional in the state of Washington.

Her early involvement with Envision led to her acceptance as a third-party verifier with the Institute of Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) for projects using the Envision rating system. This rating system provides a holistic framework for evaluating and rating the community, environmental, and economic benefits of all types and sizes of infrastructure projects.

Schweickert is also a certified ISI instructor, preparing other professionals for qualification to take the Envision sustainability professional exam.

Schweickert is the sustainability lead for Sound Transit’s South 200th Street Link Light Rail Parking Garage project in SeaTac, WA (rendering courtesy of Brooks + Scarpa Architects)

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