Tacoma port starts work on East Blair Waterway terminal development
Port of Tacoma contractors last week began driving the first of about 820 concrete piling into the port's Blair Waterway as part of new wharf construction adjacent to the 96-acre site formerly home to Kaiser Aluminum Smelter.
The construction of the 1,200-foot wharf and redevelopment of the adjacent former-Kaiser site are part of future East Blair Waterway marine terminal development.
Seattle-based Manson Construction will be working 12-hour days, six days a week to drive the 140-foot-long concrete pilings, which are manufactured by Tacoma-based Concrete Technology Corp. The pile-driving work is expected to be complete by mid-February. The port will speed up the pile-driving work schedule by increasing the hours-per-day or days-per-week in order to finish the work before the annual February fish migrations begin in the South Puget Sound waterways.