Port Canaveral Navigation Improvements: Section 203 WRDA 1986 Engineering Investigations

The Canaveral Port Authority is conducting a feasibility study of navigation improvements under the authority granted by Section 203 of Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) 1986. Section 203 of WRDA 1986 provides a mechanism whereby non-Federal interests can undertake, on their own, a feasibility study of harbor improvements and then submit it to the USACE. The focus of the study is to investigate the feasibility of widening the channel, expanding the entrance to the West Turning Basin (WTB), establishing a new turning circle within the WTB, and deepening the West Access Channel and WTB. As part of the Section 203 Feasibility Report, an Engineering Appendix was prepared that detailed the results of the engineering investigations needed to support the formulation of alternative plans and to support the selected plan. This paper will focus on the portions of the Engineering Appendix that investigated the design vessel determination, the hydraulic modeling of the port, and the impact of the navigation improvements on the existing wharves, bulkhead walls, rip-rap embankments and spoil containment dikes. Solutions to the impact on the waterfront structures, ranging from strengthening to replacement, for each alternative plan will be presented. Finally, for the selected navigation improvement plan, the recommended solutions for the various waterfront structures will be presented.