Client: Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Owner: Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Cost of Work: $8.25 million

Port MacKenzie, financed with $6.75 million appropriated by the Alaska Congressional Delegation, and 20 percent matching funds from the State of Alaska and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, was a Federal Highway Administration high-priority project. Located two miles from downtown Anchorage by ferry, Port MacKenzie provides 1,800 acres of opportunity for development of industrial and commercial lands. Adjacent lands offer more than 7,000 acres for residential and commercial development.

Port MacKenzie offers the opportunity to develop an international port/industrial site with:

• Access: On the Pacific Rim transportation routes
• Natural Resources: Gas, oil, minerals, gravel, timber, agriculture
• Infrastructure: Ferry service, road access, low cost electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, water

PND project engineers applied award-winning design capabilities to engineer and build a cost-effective gravel and sheet pile bulkhead dock with a face depth of -20 MLLW. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough worked with the contractor, Alaska Interstate Construction, to bring the project to reality. The Borough Community Development, Planning, and Finance Departments provided support in land and financial management.

In addition to the sheet pile bulkhead dock PND was responsible for all phases of design development of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s $15 million Port MacKenzie Deep Draft Dock, extending seaward from the previously constructed dock, fill and access road. The completed project includes nearly 15 acres of filled staging area, a 900-foot face OPEN CELL® bulkhead, concrete and steel access trestle and dock (22,000 square feet), and eight dolphins giving a moorage length of 1,200 feet and a depth at the dock face of El-65 MLLW.