State planning major renovation of Colman Dock

​Nine million people traveled through Colman Dock in 2015, traveling by ferry between Seattle and Bainbridge Island or Bremerton.

By 2023, the 1960's era terminal will be replaced with a new facility that state officials say will better connect passengers traveling by car, bicycle or on foot.

On Wednesday, commuters got a look at plans for the $320 million replacement of Colman Dock, which will be part of a larger transformation of the Seattle waterfront and, most importantly for state officials, will make the dock more able to withstand a major earthquake.

"We have piles in this dock from the '30s so those will be replaced so we can withstand an earthquake of a great magnitude," said Nicole McIntosh, director of terminal engineering for Washington State Ferries.

The project will bring five years of construction detours on the dock beginning in August 2017.

The mess will be familiar for passengers, who have already navigated changing routes just getting to Colman Dock because of construction of a new seawall and a tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which is also seismically vulnerable.

The ferry system is taking comments on the plan at this website. 

Cox Media Group