Project Development of Jacksonville Shipyards Redevelopment

The transformation of the "Jacksonville Shipyards" old industrial site into prime downtown waterfront public/private facility presented a wide variety of problems and solutions. Old deteriorated piers and bulkheads in the area that had previously been dredged to depths of 40 – 50 feet and had silted back up to an average water depth of 10 –15 feet. The program involved evaluation of the existing facilities, several different construction approaches and a final design that allowed for construction with minimum interference with the existing facilities. The City of Jacksonville was interested in extending the North Bank Riverwalk to its proposed eastern terminus near Metropolitan Park and was willing to provide funds for the public portions of the project while a developer "LandMar" would manage the construction and develop the rest of the property into a mixed use residential/business development. The entire project included proposed high rise and mid rise structures, a conversion of one pier into a park and the development of a marina. This paper deals within the waterfront construction portion of the project i.e. the encapsulation and stabilization of the existing bulkheads and providing a new durable waterfront interface structure that would permit the construction of the proposed development on the land side. Some of the key elements were: Evaluation of the existing facility. Consideration of the use of soil improvement techniques. Interconnection between new and old to adequately prepare the site. A final design that made extensive use of interconnected relieving platforms. Sequence of construction issues to allow the sheetpile installation, the backfill between the new and old bulkheads and the installation of the proposed platforms. Adaptability for different types of existing facilities like bulkheads, cellular cofferdams and cut off wall for the old dry dock basin. This paper will present an overview of the project, specific identification of critical issues and conditions, the proposed design solutions, and photos of the completed structures.