Port of San Francisco and BCDC Advance Embarcadero Seawall Seismic Retrofit and Waterfront Resilience Program

Coastal engineers with the Port of San Francisco, planners at the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), and federal partners from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers presented their October 2026 engineering milestone update for the Waterfront Resilience Program and Embarcadero Seawall seismic retrofit this week. Funded initially through San Francisco's voter-approved $425 million Proposition A Seawall Bond alongside state and federal coastal adaptation grants, the multi-decade construction effort is reinforcing the three-mile rock-and-concrete barrier stretching from Fisherman's Wharf to Mission Creek.

Built more than a century ago over reclaimed tidal mudflats, the historic Embarcadero Seawall supports the iconic 1898 Ferry Building, regional WETA and Golden Gate Ferry terminals, the Muni Metro underground turnaround, telecommunications conduits, and the western approach to the BART Transbay Tube. Geotechnical testing conducted by Port engineering teams confirmed that without deep soil-mixing columns and anchored steel pilings, liquefied bay mud during a major Hayward or San Andreas Fault earthquake could shift seawall bulkheads bayward by several feet.

In addition to seismic stabilization beneath the Ferry Building Plaza and Piers 9 through 22½, the autumn 2026 design packages integrate floodproofing gates, raised promenade decks for upcoming November king tides, and ecologically textured concrete tide-pool shelves that encourage native Olympia oysters and bay kelp to colonize the seawall face. Port commissioners emphasized that phasing work in targeted waterfront blocks keeps the Embarcadero promenade, Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, and commuter ferry slips open throughout construction.

San Francisco residents, maritime operators, and bayfront commuters can review interactive king-tide flood maps, seismic design renderings, and upcoming Port Commission public hearing dates online at sfport.com/wrp or at Pier 1 on The Embarcadero.