Washington State Ferries Vessels & Terminals - Terminal conditions

FY2023

WSF keeps 92.7% of terminal assets in a State of Good Repair in fiscal year 2023

As of fiscal year 2023, 7.3% of WSDOT's 886 terminal assets were not in a State of Good Repair (SOGR). All of WSF's passenger-only ferry facilities were in a SOGR as of FY2023—compared to 55.4% not in a SOGR in FY2022. The improved rating is due to the retirement of three poorly rated floating docks at the Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility.

Of the 129 Information Technology Systems, 24.1% by replacement cost were not in a SOGR—a slight increase from 2022. Preservation projects are programmed to address the condition of these systems. The percentage of landing aids by replacement cost that were not in SOGR in 2023 rose to 6.2% compared to 0.7% in 2022. Even though there hasn't been a significant change in the physical condition of the landing aids, WSF modified the SOGR criteria applied to Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility leading to the increase. The SOGR for this facility is now directly related to the physical condition and is no longer based on the risk of operational failure and the economic consequences of such failures. Because the Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility does not carry any passengers or directly support sailings, a ridership-centric, risk-based definition of SOGR resulted in most of the facility being in a good SOGR.

In their current state, the terminals at Fauntleroy, Orcas Island, Lopez Island, Coupeville, and Bremerton have the greatest value of assets not in a SOGR that also pose some risk to ferry operations. In response, WSF has planned preservation projects at all five terminals in the next 10 years.

The project at Fauntleroy terminal will address the deteriorating timber trestle constructed in the 1950s, sea-level rise, operational inefficiencies, and the seismic condition of the structure. The project is currently in the final stage of the Planning and Environmental Linkages process. WSF will select a preferred alternative at the end of this process and is also working to select the best project delivery method.

At the Orcas and Lopez Island terminals, separate projects will preserve the vehicle movable bridge systems in the near term and the trestles in the long term. At the Bremerton terminal, a preservation project, currently in design, will replace the aging vehicle movable bridge systems and landing aids. At Coupeville, two separate projects will preserve the landing aids and the vehicle movable bridge systems in the near term.

WSF will also perform a design and cost update to the Anacortes Terminal Building Replacement Project. WSF, in a prior effort, had completed 90% of the design for the project. This update will focus on bringing the design to current seismic and energy codes and update cost estimates. After the update, WSF will request approval and funding from the legislature to proceed with construction. The terminal building is aged and is seismically deficient posing a significant risk to traveling public.

Other major terminal design projects currently in progress include:

• WSF has a $17 million preservation project at the Kingston Terminal to address seismic deficiencies of the trestle and vehicle movable bridge. The planned advertisement date for the construction phase is scheduled for April 2024, however, WSF is still awaiting permit approvals.
• At the Southworth Terminal, WSF has partnered with Kitsap Transit to improve the transit operations around the terminal by building a pick-up/drop-off zone for buses. WSF is also working to replace the trestle and terminal building and partnering with Kitsap Transit to plan a second slip to improve WSF operations and Kitsap Transit passenger-only ferry operations.

FY2022

Washington State Ferries keeps 93.6% of terminal assets in State of Good Repair

As of July 2022, 93.6% of WSDOT's 881 terminal assets were in a State of Good Repair..

A total of 55.4% of passenger-only ferry facilities by replacement cost were not in a SOGR as of July 2022—the largest percentage of any asset category. Many of these assets are located at the Eagle Harbor maintenance facility and do not pose risk to ferry operations. Of the 129 Information Technology Systems, 23.3% by replacement cost were not in a SOGR. Preservation projects are programmed to address the condition of these systems.

In their current state, the terminals at Fauntleroy, Orcas Island, and Bremerton have the greatest value of assets not in a SOGR which poses some risk to the ferry operations. In response, WSF has planned preservation projects at all three terminals in the next 10 years.

The project at Fauntleroy will address the deteriorating timber trestle constructed in the 1950s, sealevel rise, operational inefficiencies, and the seismic condition of the structure. The project is halfway through the environmental process. Community, technical, and executive advisory groups have each met multiple times and provided input on this project.

At the Orcas Island terminal, two separate projects will preserve the vehicle movable bridge systems in the near term and the trestle in the long term. Similarly, at the Bremerton terminal, a preservation project currently in design will replace the aging vehicle movable bridge systems and landing aids.

Other major terminal design projects in the near term include:

• Design of a new Anacortes terminal building that will replace the aging and seismically-deficient terminal building.
• A preservation project in Kingston to address seismic deficiencies of the trestle and vehicle movable bridge.
• A preservation project in Southworth to replace the timber trestle and terminal building. WSF is partnering with Kitsap Transit to improve transit operations around the terminal by building a pick-up/ drop-off zone for buses.

WSF replaces Maintenance Management System for vessels and terminals

The legislature provided $3.7 million to fund a new Maintenance Management System (for vessels and terminals) to replace the existing system. An additional $1.1 million was provided because of project implementation delays. This amount covers an additional six months through June 30, 2023. The new system will support critical asset management functions for both vessels and terminals, including procurement, inventory management, maintenance planning, execution, and history. It will also have Life-Cycle Cost Model functionality to project preservation needs.

WSF conducted a needs analysis in the 2019-2021 biennium and moved forward to procure and implement an Enterprise Asset Management System. The project officially kicked off in early October 2021, although there was significant preparation in the months prior. WSF is using a top rated, highly effective cloud-based software to manage the agency's assets and equipment.

The new system is scheduled to roll out in the beginning of 2023, however, it will not include inventory management and enhanced asset management. This is scheduled for a later date, pending funding for the program. Current budget approval does not provide FTEs to support the program nor the licenses fees, which then need to be funded from the WSF maintenance or preservation budget.

FY2021

Washington State Ferries keeps 93.7% of terminal assets in a State of Good Repair in FY2021

As of July 2021, 93.7% of WSDOT's 794 terminal assets were in a State of Good Repair. This includes 94 new assets under the Information Technology Systems category. WSF did not report on these systems in previous Gray Notebooks because the evaluation of their life-cycle and replacement costs was still in progress.

A total of 56.3% of passenger-only ferry facilities by replacement cost were not in a State of Good Repair as of July 2021—the largest percentage of any asset category. The increase from 36% in July 2020 was due to a re-assessment of replacement costs of these assets and not because of physical deterioration of the assets. Of the 94 newly added Information Technology Systems, roughly 29% by replacement cost were not in a State of Good Repair. In their current state, the terminals at Fauntleroy, Anacortes, Orcas Island, and Tahlequah have the greatest value of assets not in a State of Good Repair. In response, WSF has planned preservation projects at all four terminals for the next 10 years to improve the SOGR.

FY2020

WSF keeps 94.9% of terminal assets in a State of Good Repair in FY2020

As of July 2020, 94.9% of WSDOT's 722 terminal assets were in a State of Good Repair, up from July 2019 when 93.4% of the agency's 755 terminal assets were in good condition. The number of WSDOT's terminal assets declined from July 2019 to July 2020 because ongoing preservation work required several assets at the Seattle terminal to be out of operation in July 2020. A total of 36% of passenger-only ferryfacilities were not in a State of Good Repair as of July 2020—the largest percentage of any asset category.

The terminals at Bainbridge Island, Fauntleroy, Mukilteo, and Orcas Island have the greatest value of assets not in SOGR. WSF is updating the asset inventory for the newly-constructed Mukilteo terminal. The percentage of assets not in a SOGR at Mukilteo terminal will decrease to zero upon completion of the update. Preservation projects are planned at the other three terminals, including the Bainbridge Island Overhead Loading project, the Fauntleroy Trestle Preservation project and the Orcas Island Vehicle Transfer Span Preservation project. Upon completion, these projects will significantly improve the SOGR at these terminals.

The terminals at Clinton, Kingston, Shaw Island, Tahlequah and Vashon Island have the least value of systems not in a SOGR. The Clinton terminal is relatively new because most assets were renewed in 2000. Many assets comprising the Kingston, Shaw Island, Tahlequah and Vashon Island terminals are expected to not be in a SOGR in the coming decade. Preservation projects are planned at all of these terminals to address these needs.

FY2019

WSF develops terminals asset management plan in FY2019

In accordance with requirements from the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration and the state legislature, WSF completed a draft asset management plan for terminal assets in 2019. As of September 2019, the terminals asset management plan was awaiting final review by WSDOT executives.

The terminals asset management plan highlights the various terminal systems and explains the strategies and framework in which WSF makes investment decisions to provide safe, cost-effective and reliable public transportation. The terminals plan includes:

• Goals and objectives of WSF specific to asset management;
• Measures that help determine if the objectives are met;
• Overview of inventory, and performance status of capital assets;
• Life cycle analysis and planning of assets;
• Enterprise-level and program-level risks faced by WSF terminal engineering staff and their management;
• Program revenues, financials and budgetary constraints;
• A look at performance scenarios at various hypothetical funding levels;
• Investment strategies supporting progress toward efficiently maintaining capital assets; and
• Implementation and systems discussing improvements to the asset management process.

WSF will update the terminal asset management plan data every two years. The plan will serve as a guiding document for managing terminal assets in the future.