Marinas and Small Craft Harbors

Marinas and small craft harbors provide opportunities for small craft berthing, water access and marina amenities for boaters and coastal communities. The planning, layout, and design of these facilities requires specialized waterfront experience and an understanding of the complex engineering, resilience, regulatory, and environmental knowledge and experience associated with the marine environment.

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GZA brings specialized planning, engineering, permitting, and construction phase services to assist in the construction, rehabilitation, maintenance, and protection of current and future harbors for smaller craft, including facility component design (e.g., piers, floats, wave attenuators, etc.), along with resilience planning to address coastal hazards, changing conditions, and long-term infrastructure needs.

Planning, Resilience & Risk Reduction

Marina master planning and operations support
Harbor and marina siting, configuration, and layout
Due diligence, property vulnerability, and resilience assessments
Clean and resilient marina planning
Dredge planning, sedimentation analysis, and management
Severe weather preparedness and emergency planning
Post-storm damage assessment and recovery planning
Risk-informed planning and benefit-cost evaluation

Inner Harbor Engineering

Coastal modeling, including metocean, circulation, scour and sediment transport
Environmental load analysis for wind, waves, currents, vessel wakes, and ice
Wave attenuation, breakwaters, and protected basin design
Inner harbor and protected basin design, including fixed piers, floating docks, bulkheads, and living shorelines
Floating docks anchoring alternatives
Design and rehabilitation of waterfront infrastructure
Boat launch, ramps, and haul-out facilities
Pump-out systems
Stormwater improvements
Mooring field and anchoring system design

Support Services

Hydrographic and topographic surveys
Aerial drone photogrammetry and LiDAR
Structural and site condition assessments, asset inventories, benefit-cost analysis, and life-cycle cost analysis
Geotechnical subsurface exploration and design
Environmental engineering
Site civil engineering
Landscape architecture
Dredging support
Regulatory permitting and compliance
ADA compliance
Instrumentation and monitoring for water quality, wind, waves, currents, water levels, movement, and vibration
Construction management, construction support, construction administration, and field observation
Public access, water connectivity, and accessibility planning
Grant and funding support
Community and stakeholder engagement