Geotechnical Challenges and Solutions for Pier A Project at a Contaminated and Seismically Active Site at the Port of Long Beach

At 70 hectares (170 acres), the Pier A terminal is currently the largest container terminal at the Port of Long Beach (Port), and also the largest terminal facility operated anywhere in the world by Hanjin Shipping Company. Based on the Port's delivery schedule, this $277 million state-of-the-art container terminal project was put on a fast track. Design and construction proceeded simultaneously. From geotechnical perspectives, most of the critical issues are attributable to its geographic location, history of the project site, and its past usage. The site is located on the north shore of the Cerritos Channel, with the Terminal Island (TI) Freeway on its western boundary, and is situated in between the highly active Palos Verdes and Newport-Inglewood fault zones. The critical geotechnical issues included: high seismicity of the region; compressible and liquefiable soil conditions; downdrag potential to TI Freeway and project infrastructures; foundation design of the wharf and other structures; seismic design of waterfront slope and wharf structure, on-site remediation and encapsulation of contaminated materials; and certification of existing artificial fill. This paper presents the highlights of the geotechnical solutions and lessons learned that can be used for future port facilities. For details, the reader is advised to read the original reports submitted to the Port by Leighton and Associates, Inc. (Leighton) where the author worked earlier and served as the project manager.