Originally built in 1975, the Dan Russell Municipal Pier is one of the longest fishing piers on Florida’s Gulf coast . Over the years, the pier has been damaged and required repair after each encounter with a hurricane. In 2004 and 2005, the effects of Hurricanes Ivan, Katrina, & Wilma all but destroyed the pier. The damage was so extensive that the Panama City officials determined that the pier had to been demolished, redesigned and rebuilt. The new pier was designed to withstand the enormous force of category 5 hurricanes, and has an anticipated life span of 50 years.

Shoreline Foundation began the project with the demolition of the pier. Crews disassembled the pier in sections, separating out the large concrete portions for use in the expansion of an existing offshore artificial reef site. Underwater, our commercial dive team excavated and cut free twisted steel structures and cleared the bottom of debris to make way for the new construction.

To withstand future hurricane forces, the new pier design allows waves to pass harmlessly through the top of the pier by incorporating the use of removable wooden deck sections. This, along with the use of massive concrete pilings in combination with a substantially reinforced concrete deck, should allow the pier to survive future storms. The anchor portion of the concrete deck is 140 lineal feet of contiguously poured concrete, 24 inches in depth, with repeating layers of large diameter steel reinforcing bar. The upland concrete pilings are 18 inches square, 70 feet in length and driven at precise angles through specially constructed steel templates. The in-water octagonal concrete pilings are designed to deflect wave energy and are 24 inches in diameter and 107 feet in length.

The massive 1500 foot long pier extends 1200 feet over the water with the deck 26 feet above sea level. Through the use of innovative construction methods developed exclusively by Shoreline Foundation, the pier was built in record time. We employed these same techniques for the construction of both the sister 1,500 foot long M.B. Miller Pier, (for Bay County), and the Veterans Memorial Fishing Pier in Titusville, Florida. When it comes to building fishing piers, Shoreline Foundation has no peers.