Downtown San Francisco Ferry Terminal Expansion

Designing and constructing two new ferry gates and retrofitting a third at one of the Bay Area's busiest terminals demanded careful coordination from the start. The structure had to be robust enough to meet seismic design requirements while remaining aesthetically pleasing for a prominent waterfront facility. Construction in a constrained, high-traffic location had to be executed efficiently, with minimal disruption to ongoing ferry operations, all under an aggressive project schedule.

Liftech provided structural design for two new steel floats complete with berths, mooring systems, and passenger superstructures, along with three new steel gangways with fabric roofs connecting land to the floats. Liftech also performed a structural assessment and retrofit of an existing float to improve compatibility with the current ferry fleet, and designed new steel guide piles, dolphin piles, and fender systems to assist with vessel berthing. Because the gangways and superstructures serve the public, the design also had to meet ADA accessibility requirements while accommodating ferries of varying sizes, boarding heights, and berthing positions.