The San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) announced that the Ron Cowan Central Bay Operations and Maintenance Facility at Alameda Point will soon begin operations. WETA broke ground for the project in September 2016 (“Ferry Facility Dedicated,” Sept. 22, 2016). The late Ron Cowan was on hand for dedication of the building that bears his name. 

Overaa-Power designed and built the $49 million project. The new terminal consists of a multi-story maintenance and operations building, a working yard, a fuel yard and a floating dock structure with 12 berthing slips for WETA’s central San Francisco Bay Fleet. 

The facility will serve as a non-passenger hub for WETA’s central San Francisco Bay Ferry Fleet. WETA will service, cleane, fuel and store vessels overnight at Alameda Point. The facility will also function as an emergency operations center in the event of a regional disaster. 

Power Engineering Construction Co., an Alameda-based heavy civil and marine construction company, designed and built the over-water elements, including a new seawall, bay embankment and overwater berthing structures.

According to WETA, the consolidation of the central bay fleet at Alameda Point will provide a new way for WETA to address the increased need for ferry service, care for its assets and serve a greater number of Bay Area residents in the coming years.