Last year, San Rafael-based Dutra Group began construction on the waterside phase of the North Bay Operations and Maintenance Facility, a project that will provide a base for WETA's Vallejo ferry fleet.
The new facility will replace the existing maintenance facility currently located about a half-mile north on Mare Island Strait. The facility will include administration offices, maintenance shops, fueling, berthing space and passenger loading facilities. Photo courtesy of The Dutra Group
BC Staff Report
Published: July, 2016
Last year, San Rafael-based Dutra Group began construction on the waterside phase of the North Bay Operations and Maintenance Facility, a project that will provide a base for WETA’s Vallejo ferry fleet. The project is now nearing completion and is expected to be done in August.
The new facility is located at Building 165 within the area of the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard, which was in operation from 1854 until closure of its primary facilities in 1996. The new facility will replace the existing maintenance facility currently located about a half-mile north on Mare Island Strait. The facility will include administration offices, maintenance shops, fueling, berthing space and passenger loading facilities.
Preliminary construction work included site preparation, demolition, hazardous materials abatement and environmental cleanup required for the Building 165 site prior to implementation of the landside improvements. North Bay’s Thompson Builders handled the landside improvements, including a fueling facility with a truck drive aisle for fuel delivery, above-grade diesel fuel storage tanks, lube oil and urea storage tanks, pipelines for delivery of the various fluid products, and removal of wastes. Additional improvements include a new warehouse, reuse of Building 165A as a storage building, and adaptive reuse of the historic Building 165 for shop and office space.
The waterside improvements include three new full-service berths (capable of accommodating maintenance and passenger service activities) and one maintenance-only berth for the ferry vessels in a configuration with two 124-foot long finger floats and a 200-foot long maintenance float. A second maintenance berth, adjacent to the quay wall, will be used in the event that a large land-based crane was necessary for a repair such as removing an engine. Basic services including fueling, potable water, shore power, sewage disposal, urea, bilge water, lube and waste oil, and compressed air will be provided at each of the three full-service berths.
The new facility project became a reality after the transfer of the Vallejo Ferry Service and the old maintenance facility from the City of Vallejo to WETA, which happened in October 2011 when the WETA Board of Directors approved the Ferry Service Operations Transfer Agreement with the City of Vallejo.
As part of the maintenance facility project, WETA partnered with Lennar Mare Island (LMI) to improve public access facilities in the vicinity of the project area, such as the Mare Island Waterfront Promenade. The final design of these improvements was determined in coordination with LMI, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission and the City of Vallejo with input from the general public.
