Project Overview
The Missouri River waterfront in Kansas City, Missouri, was the economic engine of this region for an entire century. The original terminal was built in the 1890s and handled freight until the late 1990s. When Port KC assumed control of the terminal in 2012, the port authority inherited a site encumbered by decades of dereliction; they also had a vision for what it could become again.
PND designed a 300-foot-long OPEN CELL SHEET PILE™ (OCSP™) heavy-duty dock for the newly imagined Governor Michael L. Parson Port Terminal, using a cost-effective design solution for accommodating bulk materials transportation and renewing the Missouri River’s commerce capabilities. The project replaced the facility’s 93-year-old railroad trestle for loading barges. PND’s OCSP solution came in at roughly half the cost of the project’s original design using an anchored combi-wall, and its vertically driven piles made for easy installation through layers of subterranean debris that had accumulated at the industrial site over the years.
PND’s design approach delivered both substantial cost savings and lower construction risk for the rebuilt terminal, while providing an exceptionally high-load capacity for transporting bulk materials and other large loads.
Our Role
- Structural Engineering: designed a heavy-load OCSP™ dock capable of supporting uniform live loads of 2,400 psf without soil anchors
- Geotechnical Engineering:evaluated site conditions affected by historic fill, debris, and layered soils to inform driven pile design and installation method
- Civil Engineering: supported dock layout and functional improvements to increase berthing capacity and accommodate new cargo types
- Waterfront Engineering: applied OCSP technology to deliver a cost-effective, constructible marine terminal solution
- OPEN CELL SHEET PILE: designed a 300-foot-long OCSP heavy-duty dock
Rebuilding River Commerce with OCSP™
Creating new infrastructure along the Missouri River―the longest river in the U.S.―facilitates increased shipping capacity, alleviates road and rail congestion, and bolsters the Kansas City and Missouri River Valley economies. The dock previously only handled sand, gravel, asphalt, and some construction materials, but the terminal’s upgrades provide the capability to move agricultural products, scrap steel, mill scale, steel coils, aggregates, and heavy breakbulk cargo.
PND’s design doubled the terminal’s barge docking capacity from three berths to six and accommodates containers and additional cargo types. Rather than relying on towboats to move barges while cranes unload cargo, a new winching system mounted on PND-designed pile-supported foundations enables the repositioning of barges along the face of the upstream loading dock, lowering delivery costs.
"The terminal has revitalized the entire Missouri River system, (bringing) back more opportunities for the river (and) cheaper costs than rail and truck. Most Kansas Citians will probably never see what we do at Parson Terminal; however, they’re going to feel the impacts when they shop at the grocery store (or) when they’re considering a construction project."
Cost Savings
compared to original combi-wall dock design
Feet
length of OPEN CELL SHEET PILE™ heavy-duty dock
psf
uniform live-load capacity for bulk materials
Berths
to double previous barge-handling capacity
