Project Overview
PND designed two new offshore cruise ship berths to accommodate the post-Panamax cruise ships projected to berth in Juneau, which attracts visitors from around the world as the central port-of-call in Alaska’s booming cruise industry. With the introduction of larger cruise ships on the worldwide market, the City & Borough of Juneau (CBJ) required additional space to accommodate two new-generation cruise ships close to Downtown Juneau, which is only accessible by air or sea. The city’s available options for expansion, however, were limited due to select waterfront space and natural mountain barriers near the shoreline.
PND provided planning, public involvement, surveying, geotechnical investigations, permitting, final design, bid-phase support, contract administration, and construction inspection services for the largest cruise ship dock construction project of its type in Alaska state history. The project required a phased construction sequence over two years due to the limited access period and to allow for continued use of the existing cruise ship docks between phases. The new offshore facilities include floating pontoon docks, approach docks, steel vehicle transfer bridges, dolphins, and catwalks, along with complete water, sewer, power, and lighting utilities. PND’s design for the new facilities supports CBJ’s long-term goals―strengthening downtown tourism, improving Juneau’s image, and protecting the working waterfront for the future.
Our Role
- Geotechnical Engineering: conducted extensive geotechnical investigations to determine the optimum layout and specific ground characteristics for deep foundation elements of all dolphin and mooring structures; PND drilled 19 offshore boreholes and conducted split-spoon sampling, rock coring, seismic studies, in-situ standard penetration test readings and vane shear tests, test pile probes to confirm bedrock elevation, and Pile Driving Analyzer® inspections throughout project construction
- Coastal Engineering: provided a propwash deflector and current study, investigating the natural and vessel-generated currents at the planned dock facilities; collected and reviewed existing information such as bathymetry, tide, and current data; and applied the Delft3D hydrodynamic model to study the currents generated by tidal circulation
- Waterfront Engineering: designed cost-effective solutions for the cruise ship berths, including SPIN FIN™ piles, concrete floating pontoons, mooring dolphins, and pile-supported access piers with orthotropic steel transfer bridges
Supporting a Waterfront Economy with Attractive and Cost-Efficient Infrastructure
Juneau’s cruise ship berths serve as the marine gateway to the downtown core and are many visitors’ first view of the city. PND’s design incorporated the CBJ color scheme, added a variety of attractive visual elements, and created more public space to enrich the facility and encourage investment in the waterfront area’s service industries. Our design also protected the existing waterfront for use by small vessels and float planes.
"PND is a highly professional and polished organization. Their efforts in design and overseeing the construction of the Juneau cruise ship berths was masterful. I give them my highest recommendation for similar engineering work anywhere.”
Carl Uchytil, PE | Port Director, CBJ
The design team overcame multiple environmental challenges by using a combination of rock anchors, rock sockets, and proprietary SPIN FIN pile tips. The concrete floating pontoons, serving as the cruise ship berth breasting face and passenger loading/unloading area, are moored using vertical pile dolphins that withstand Juneau’s 25-foot tides without necessitating complex loading/unloading operations. The concrete pontoons provided CBJ significant savings in operational and maintenance costs compared to traditional steel pontoons.
Feet
The new cruise ship berths can accommodate post-Panamax ships 1,100 feet long
SPIN FIN piles
PND used SPIN FIN pile tips to resist high tension loads in overburden with low frictional resistance, achieving cost savings of over $2 million compared to rock anchors