Anna Maria Island

Coastal Geotechnical/geoforensic Investigation At Anna Maria Island

Anna Maria Pier is located on a barrier island in the northwestern portion of Manatee County. Designated as a historical landmark and it consisted of a 760 foot long T-shaped wooden deck structure. It had been damaged by previous hurricanes since 1928 and repaired or reconstructed many times. The most recent being in 1988. A 2016 structural assessment report estimated the remaining life of the pier to be five years barring any storm event. Late 2017 Hurricane Irma event further damaged the historical pier beyond repairs. City closed the pier pending a decision by the city to rehabilitate or replace it.

BillerReinhart, in early 2018, performed a barge mounted offshore coastal geotechnical/geoforensic investigation, completed sampling of bay bottom soils from 60 to 100 ft depth from the shore line to the T-head of the pier. Additionally, laboratory strength testing of selected samples was undertaken to obtain site specific design parameters. BillerReinhart then prepared a detailed report of findings that included determination of vertical and lateral design capacity of piles. Various types of piles were considered for support of the new redesigned structure consisting of 6-inch thick concrete slab superstructure and timber composite decking.