The Challenge of Designing a Port Terminal on a Compressible Spring, Craney Island Eastward Expansion, Portsmouth, Virginia

The proposed 210-hectare Craney Island Eastward Expansion (and its subsequent development as a container terminal) in Portsmouth, Virginia is the largest port-development land reclamation ever proposed along the eastern U.S. coast. The shallow water site is underlain by substantial (25- to 40-meter-thick) deposits of highly compressible, weak clay that are predicted to settle 7 to 10 meters under the weight of the land reclamation fill and terminal loads. Prediction and acceleration of the settlement under the surcharge loads is thus vital for: land reclamation and ground improvement sequencing, the stability of the proposed containment dikes, and the construction-terminal development schedule. The project design required development of advanced analytical procedures to couple the geotechnical relationships between load, consolidation, settlement, strength gain, and stability.