Projects

Juneau Cruise Ship Dock

Geotechnical EngineeringContract Administration & Construction Support ServicesStructural Engineering

Creating new state-of-the-art cruise ship berths, enhancing waterfront access for both tourists and local maritime industries.

Location

Juneau, Alaska

Client

City & Borough of Juneau

Market

Local Government; Cruise Ship; Tourism; Maritime; Ports & Waterfront

Awards

2018 Engineering Excellence E-Week Project of the Year; 2017 Pile Driving Contractors Association Project of the Year; 2017 Engineering News-Record Northwest Best Airport/Transit, Excellence in Safety, and Best Specialty Construction; 2017 American Society of Civil Engineers Juneau Chapter Project of the Year

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

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.”

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.

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Feet

The new cruise ship berths can accommodate post-Panamax ships 1,100 feet long

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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

Services & Innovations

Civil EngineeringCoastal EngineeringConstruction EngineeringContract Administration & Construction Support ServicesEnvironmental ConsultingGeotechnical EngineeringHydrology & HydraulicsLand SurveyingStructural EngineeringWaterfront Engineering
SPIN FIN™ Piles

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