Overview
In January 2017, a winter storm and ice buildup caused part of the Steamboat Landing dock to tear apart and float down the Columbia River. Ballard was awarded the dock repair and replacement project in November 2018 with the grand reopening to the public in July 2019.

Scope of Work
Ballard’s scope included removal and disposal of a 400-foot wood dock, replacing it with new aluminum/HDPE docks, including aluminum hand-railing. During the project, the team removed the existing steel piling and installed twenty-two seventy-two feet by eighteen-inch piles, thirty feet below mud line. One new concrete abutment and one new 130-foot aluminum gangway were also installed, as well as refurbishment of the seventy-five-foot existing aluminum gangway. Structural improvements to an existing observation deck, including new composite decking with aluminum railing, were added into the scope after the dock reopening.

Innovative Solutions
A challenge Ballard encountered included hard pile driving conditions. To mitigate this, the team rented a diesel hammer to install all the new eight-inch piles. Additionally, the slope below the existing observation deck was eroded beyond the limits of the drawings. Ballard came up with a plan to install cast-in-place concrete, as opposed to the grout bags originally proposed by the designer.

Results
To work around unusually low water flow during construction, Ballard used a land-based 500-ton crane to install the new bent piling that supported the south end of the gangway leading offshore from the new abutment.