Fast Track Project Yields Economic Benefit to Community

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) solicited proposals in 2009 for relocation of their Pacific Fleet from aged facilities on Seattle's Lake Union. The Port of Newport, located in a city of 10,000 on the central Oregon coast, made the decision to respond with a proposal. Relocation of the Pacific Fleet to the Port of Newport would provide significant direct and indirect economic benefits to the community for many years. The Port of Newport was then faced with a tremendous challenge of meeting a compressed schedule to complete design, permitting, and construction of the upland and in-water facilities necessary to accommodate the arrival of six research vessels and approximately 175 NOAA personnel. The most challenging element of the project, from a schedule perspective, was an 1,800-ft- (550-m-) long by 35-ft- (10.5-m-) wide pier structure which, due to the limited window available for in-water-work, had to be constructed within seven months.