The first new terminal in 40 years for the Washington State Dept. of Transportation-operated Washington State Ferries, the country’s largest ferry system, came with tricky site conditions and cultural significance that impacted both design and construction for a $187-million project split into multiple contracts to ensure on-time delivery.
To relieve congestion and seismic concerns at the 63-year-old terminal hemmed in by other development, the new Mukilteo Ferry Terminal—part of State Route 525, the state’s second-busiest ferry route with 4 million annual riders and an expected walk-on ridership increase of 124% by 2040—was built one-third of a mile east of the existing structure on what was an abandoned World War II-era U.S. Air Force fueling station—raising environmental contamination concerns.