A land use application has now been filed with Seattle's Department of Planning and Development to make long awaited improvements to Terminal 5 which has sat largely dormant since 2014 aside from hosting a few ships and notably the Polar Pioneer Shell Oil platform in 2015. The improvements expected to cost more than $200 million face a few more permitting hurdles before work can begin. That work, expected to take until 2020 to complete includes removing and replacing parts of the pier, dredging to make the channel deeper to accommodate larger the larger Post Panamax ships now in service.

It is application number 3019071.

The full description can be found here at this link.

Quoting from the decision:

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED ACTION
Shoreline Substantial Development Application to allow improvements to existing container cargo facility (Terminal 5). Project includes removal and replacement of portions of pier structure, including crane rails, decking and piling, dredging of 48,000 cu. yds. of sediment, and under pier slope stabilization. Project also includes installation of an electrical substation and utility upgrades.

Environmental Impact Statement was prepared by the Port of Seattle*.

The following approvals are required:
Shoreline Substantial Development Permit to allow development in the Urban Industrial (UI), Shoreline Environment.
Shoreline Conditional Use to allow unlisted shoreline modification in the Urban Industrial (UI) Shoreline Environment.
SEPA Substantive decision (to approve, condition or deny on the basis of SEPA policies)
Pursuant to SEPA substantive authority provided in SMC 25.05.660, the proposal is approved subject to compliance with the conditions identified below.

(*) Terminal 5 Cargo Wharf Rehabilitation, Berth Deepening, And Improvements Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), issued by Port of Seattle on October 18, 2016

Proposal Summary
The Port of Seattle with the Northwest Seaport Alliance proposes to rehabilitate the existing marine cargo facilities at Terminal 5 at the west margin of the West Waterway in Elliott Bay. The proposed project includes modifications to the existing Terminal 5 marine cargo facility in order to serve larger cargo vessels. The proposed changes consist of cargo wharf rehabilitation, deepening of the vessel berth, electrical service capacity improvements, and upland improvements to service increased capacities including reconfiguration of the existing upland marine cargo marshalling area, modification of intermodal rail facilities and pavement areas, improvement of stormwater systems, alteration of maintenance and repair buildings and redesign of entrance/exit gates and heavy access points.

The Port of Seattle is the lead agency for the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) environmental review of the proposed project under SEPA. Project scoping began on October 22, 2015 and ended November 23, 2015. The draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was published May 23, 2016 with comment period closing July 8, 2016. The Port selected a Preferred Alternative and issued the Final EIS on October 18, 2016. A detailed summary of the SEPA review steps taken by the Port is found in Chapter 2.1.2 of the FEIS document (October 2016).

Project components are further summarized here:
The existing cargo wharf is 2,900 feet long. Strengthening actions apply to approximately 2,800 linear feet, while the toe-wall stabilization actions measure up to 3,100 linear feet. Wharf strengthening will include the following elements:
• Demolish older wharf and structural systems as needed.
• Demolish asphalt paving for 31 feet x 2,800 feet to access area landside crane rail
for strengthening.
• Demolish cast-in-place concrete crane rail beams and pile caps (located above
MHHW) and concrete deck slabs (located above MHHW) for 21 feet x 2,800 feet
along dock face to waterside crane rail.
• Remove fender system including extraction of timber fender piles and replace with
a panelized fender system reducing overwater coverage by a net of 12,470 square
feet at the face of the wharf.
• Extract or cut off older, conflicting 16.5-inch structural piling below mudline.
• Install new structural crane rail piles.
• Install 420 structural concrete piles (24-inch) and concrete pile cap beam within
footprint of existing wharf structure to replace the waterside crane rail beam.
• Install 420 structural steel pipe piles (24-inch) and concrete pile cap beam in existing
upland area, land-ward of the cargo wharf bulkhead.
• Install slope stabilization measures in the riprap armor slope beneath the existing
containercargo wharf. Slope stabilization techniques will consist of installation of
untreated wood pilespenetrating the existing riprap armor slope.
• Install a toe-wall at the transition between the constructed riprap slope and the adjacent
container vessel berth area to stabilize the existing slope beneath the container cargo wharf.
Drive combination H-pile and sheet pile wall at the toe-of-slope for up to 3,100 feet.
• Install wharf rehabilitation elements:
• Replace the concrete deck structure within the existing wharf footprint.
• Repair existing container wharf beams and deck panels.
• Install panelized wharf fender system at 60-foot intervals.
• Deepen adjacent berth to -54 feet mean lower low water (MLLW) (-56 feet with
potential over dredge depth to provide sufficient water depth to ensure the terminal’s
capacity for berthinglarger container ships.
• Slope stability structures are designed for a final depth of up to –56 feet MLLW (–
58 feet MLLW potential over dredge depth) for potential work that is not a part of this project.
Application No. 3019071 Page 3
• Electrical Improvements will include the following elements:
• Construct a new 26-MVA Primary Substation, to provide electrical power to the new
cranes and associated terminal operations such as cargo handling, marshalling, and
refrigeration.
• Coordinate with Seattle City Light (SCL) to provide power to the new Primary
Substation from both the SCL Delridge Substation and the SCL South Substation.
• Construct up to four new electrical distribution substations feeding the new ship-to-
shorecranes and dock power and lighting systems.
• Construct a new underground electrical duct bank to connect distribution elements.
• Construct distribution vaults and trenches to power trench.
• Water supply system upgrades will include the following elements:
• Remove and replace existing dockside water distribution system.
• Provide sectional valving in dockside water distribution system. Coordinate with
existing looped water distribution system and existing fire hydrant layout.
• Remove and replace existing ship’s water supply assemblies. Coordinate assembly
installationlocations.
• Update ship’s water supply deduct meters to comply with City of Seattle standards.

Public Comment
There were three public comment periods for this proposal: June 25, 2015 through July 24, 2015; August 6, 2015 through September 4, 2015 and July 28, 2016 through August 26, 2016. Numerous public comments have been received and are part of the electronic file for this project.

The project is expected to have significant traffic impacts which means signals and roads in the area will
see some changes as well. The decision states"

Traffic Operations
As noted above, traffic generated by the project is expected to add substantial delay to vehicle movements through the SW Spokane Street/W Marginal Way SW/Chelan Avenue SW/Delridge Way SW intersection; this increased delay will be mitigated by the closure of the north leg of this intersection. The proposed project would also add lesser amounts of delay to several intersections along and near the SW Spokane Street corridor. To mitigate this impact, the Port will upgrade traffic signals along the Spokane Street corridor at the following intersections:

• SW Spokane Street/Harbor Avenue SW
• SW Spokane Street/West Seattle Freeway Off-Ramp
• SW Spokane Street/Terminal 5 Access Bridge
• SW Spokane Street/11th Avenue SW
• S Spokane Street/East Marginal Way SW
• East Marginal Way S/S Hanford Street

If needed, the upgrades will include new traffic signal controllers at all intersections, fiber interconnection between the signals, and detection. New emergency pre-emption equipment may be required at the SW Spokane Street/Terminal 5 Access Bridge intersection, with interconnection to Fire Station #36. The SDOT-approved signal improvements will be implemented prior to occupancy of Terminal 5 by a tenant.

The Port also will replace the Flashing Alert sign located on northbound W Marginal Way SW that notifies motorists approaching Terminal 5 (and local businesses) that the railroad tracks are blocked by a train. The Alert sign shall be maintained until the surface access via W Marginal Way SW is closed to vehicular traffic.