McCarthy Building Companies has completed construction of the port of Beaumont’s Main Street Terminal 1, which is slated to increase its general cargo handling capacity by more than 15 percent.
Main Street Terminal 1 is the largest of the 20 projects on the port of Beaumont’s capital improvement programme. The original 100-year-old dock at the Main Street Terminal collapsed in 2012, with the original concrete slab sliding into the water due to pile corrosion. This required demolition of the entire dock.
The new dock is 1,200 ft (366 m) long and 130 ft (40 m) wide, with a larger section in the middle measuring 152 ft (46 m) wide. Its construction consists of concrete piles, cast-in-place concrete caps and beams, pre-cast concrete deck panels, and a concrete topping slab.
With an opportunity for a complete redesign of the terminal, sustainability and resiliency were top of mind for the port of Beaumont. Key building elements included concrete piles that provide a corrosion-resistant foundation for extended resiliency, and a final concrete topping slab constructed using synthetic concrete reinforcing fibres, as opposed to traditional welded steel wire mesh. This reinforcing material provides a corrosion-resistant surface which will slow deterioration, McCarthy explained.
The new fender system includes an energy-absorbing component to reduce loads on the dock, which will extend the useful life of the structure.
