Coastal Engineering Design of a Closure Jetty for the Middle Harbor Enhancement Area, Port of Oakland

The Middle Harbor Enhancement Area (MHEA) consists of approximately 190 acres of old U.S. Navy berthing areas, navigation channel and turning basin in the Oakland Middle Harbor that will be transformed into shallow water habitat using dredged material fill. The area will be bound by a rock jetty and sheetpile wall to confine the dredged material fill within the site and to protect the site from waves, tidal currents and navigation effects. Several methodologies were used to compare the range of estimated rock sizes for the jetty including ACES (breakwater and revetment modules), RIPRAP (channel riprap software), and Hudson and van der Meer formulations. The recommended design for the jetty consisted of the following: (a) two layers of armor stone (3 ft layer thickness) with a W₅₀ of 4,000 lbs, (b) two layers of underlayer with a W₅₀ of 250 to 400 lb stones, and (c) a quarry run core with W₅₀ of 0.65 to 20 lbs. A finite element hydrodynamic model (RMA-2) was subsequently used to determine the impacts of the proposed jetty on nearby areas in the Oakland Middle Harbor. Model results revealed that the jetty would not have an adverse effect on the hydrodynamics and flow patterns near the project site.