Port of Oakland's $642M Plan Takes 6 Acres of Alameda Land

The Port of Oakland signed a $642 million design agreement on Aug. 27, and it kicks off a shipping channel project that will take down two Alameda warehouses and rebuild about 1,100 feet of Alameda's own shoreline. Construction could start as soon as 2027, right across the estuary from the West End.

What the Turning Basins Project Actually Does

The project is called the Oakland Harbor Turning Basins Widening Project, and it's not really about Alameda at all. It's about giving today's giant cargo ships more room to turn around near the Port of Oakland. The Inner Harbor Turning Basin grows by 334 feet, from 1,500 feet across to 1,834 feet. The Outer Harbor Turning Basin grows by 315 feet, from 1,650 to 1,965 feet.

The Army Corps of Engineers and the Port made it official aboard the USS Potomac, the presidential yacht docked in Oakland. Lt. Col. Virginia Brickner, who commands the Corps' San Francisco District, and Port of Oakland Director Kristi McKenney signed the agreement, which covers the design phase before anyone breaks ground.

How Much of Alameda's Shoreline Is Affected

Here's the part that touches home. The Inner Harbor Turning Basin sits right at the edge of Alameda's stretch of the estuary, and widening it means taking land on this side of the water too. Port planning documents put the number at about 6 acres of shoreline on the Alameda side, plus another 4 acres at Oakland's Howard Terminal.

• About 1,100 linear feet of new bulkhead, the concrete and steel wall that holds back the shoreline, gets installed along the reshaped Alameda edge.
• Two warehouse buildings on that site come down. They're currently leased by Continental Terminals Annex, which uses them to store coffee beans.
• Roughly 2.4 million cubic yards of material gets dredged from the water and excavated from land, some of it reused for wetland restoration.

When You'll Actually See Construction

Design work is underway now. The Port's board certified the final environmental review back on July 10, 2025, and this new agreement with the Army Corps is the next real step. Construction is expected to start in 2027 and take about two years and ten months, which means residents on Alameda's northern edge should expect years of dredging and building noise carrying across the water. The cost is split between the federal government and the Port of Oakland.

Why It's Worth Watching From Alameda

Every decision here gets made in Oakland, but the shoreline changing is Alameda's. It's a reminder that the estuary Alameda shares with its neighbor keeps evolving even when the vote isn't on our own council's agenda. It's a similar story to the electrical work already underway at Alameda's ferry terminals, where infrastructure most residents never think about is quietly getting rebuilt along the waterfront. Worth keeping an eye on as the design phase moves forward and a construction schedule gets locked in.