Upgrading Naval Base San Diego’s waterfront facilities faster, safer and under budget

GHD, in joint venture (JV) with COWI, worked with Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Southwest in support of the $93 million Pier 8 Replacement at Naval Base San Diego. The Navy replaced the existing pier with a new single deck general purpose berthing pier which provides capacity for four large ship berths.

Pier 8 was a 70-year-old structure nearing the end of its service life and incompatible with the dimensions of modern vessels. Inadequate deck size and load-bearing capability, structural deterioration, and insufficient electrical power supply to power-intensive modern vessels hindered the operations of this busy naval base. Adequate ship berthing was required to support the mix of U.S. Pacific Fleet ships homeported at the base.

The GHD-COWI JV prepared a waterfront engineering design-build request for proposal for the new construction of the single deck general purpose berthing pier 8.

The team coordinated with ship and maintenance operations to ensure that the design met all end user needs and carefully planned the layout of pier features to eliminate potential interferences and avoid surprises during construction.

The new state-of-the art pier is 76 percent larger than the previous one, supports 140-ton crane operations to facilitate the servicing of vessels and has a 75-year service life with concrete deck and piles meeting Unified Facilities Guide Specifications durability requirements.

Anti-terrorism/Force protection on Pier 8 included guard house, security crash gate and fencing, pedestrian turnstile, watch tower, and high-mast lighting.

Pier 8 utilities include upgrades to potable water, sanitary sewer, steam, oily waste and compensating ballast water collection systems. Electrical utilities upgrades include a shore power system at the pier; a switching station; primary and secondary distribution systems; telephone, coaxial and fiber-optic communications; supervisory control and data acquisitions systems for energy monitoring and control; and a fire alarm system. The pier includes primary and secondary fenders, and new load out ramp cradles on the quay wall on each side.

The upgrades also included a newly installed stormwater treatment system with that consist of a primary system able to treatment 400 gallons per minute (GPM) and capture solids and an oil separator, and a secondary media filter capable of reducing and/or eliminate contaminants to meet all Numeric Action Level (NAL) parameters and toxicity (acute and chronic) requirements.

Having experienced exceptional results by partnering together on two other piers at Naval Base San Diego, the team understood the value of leveraging a formal partnering program and drew upon lessons learned to optimize the pier deck layout, reduce construction costs, and deliver a finished product that exceeded all expectations.

Key accomplishments included eliminating dredging—saving $10 million and shortening the construction schedule, completing the design four months ahead of schedule with minimal impact on port or Navy base operations with zero open claims, and delivering the first facility at Naval Base San Diego to accommodate sea level rise.