Best Marine Use
Cole Park Pier Description
An icon of the Corpus Christi waterfront, the original Cole Park Pier was a wooden structure, built-in 1938, designed to provide residents and visitors of Corpus Christi with opportunities for swimming and fishing. In 1946, the pier was removed due to being severely damaged by a hurricane in the previous year. In 1972 the pier was reconstructed using concrete but after 50 years of service in the harshest elements of Corpus Christi Bay, including hurricane damage in 2017, the city decided that it needed a new resilient solution to provide its residents and visitors with a recreational pier that will withstand the test of time.
Extending over 500 feet into Corpus Christi Bay, the new pier seeks to improve on the original design and includes many additional features. After evaluating various design and construction criteria including cost, construction time, and long-term performance, the City of Corpus Christi determined that the optimal solution for the new pier was a total precast concrete structure.
The precast for this new design was produced by Heldenfels Enterprises. The new Cole Park Pier consists of 60 – 24” X 24” precast-prestressed piles which support precast pile caps and 34 custom precast-prestressed concrete deck panels with a field topped slab. It also features an observation deck and a significantly wider walkway with alternating bump-outs along each side. These bump-outs will allow for seating, shade structures, lighting, and fish cleaning stations, adding significantly to the utility and aesthetics of the new pier that will serve the city’s infrastructure for many generations to come.
Project timeline
The Cole Park Pier & Plaza was substantially complete as of December 17, 2021.
Key design features
Extending over 500 feet into Corpus Christi Bay, the new Cole Park Pier consists of 60 – 24” X 24” precast, prestressed piles supporting precast pile caps and 34 custom precast, prestressed concrete deck panels and a cast-in-place topping slab and features a significantly wider walkway with alternating bump-outs along each side. These bump-outs allow for seating, shade structures, lighting, and fish cleaning stations along the pier, adding significantly to the utility and aesthetics of the new pier which
also includes an observation deck.Innovations using precast concrete
After evaluating various design and construction criteria including cost, construction time, and long-term performance, the City of Corpus Christi determined that the optimal solution for the new pier was a total precast concrete solution that would seek to improve on the original design and would include many additional features.
Precast concrete components
60 – 24” X 24” precast prestressed piles supporting precast pile caps and 34 custom precast, prestressed concrete deck panels, and a cast-in-place topping slab.
- Precast Manufacturer: Heldenfels Enterprises – San Marcos, Texas
- Engineer of Record: Jacobs – Corpus Christi, Texas
- General Contractor: J.M. Davidson, Inc. – Corpus Christi, Texas
- Precast Concrete Engineer: Ericksson Technologies – Tampa, FL
