An $80 million project to improve Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport’s resiliency to sea level rise is nearing completion, Port of Oakland officials recently announced.
The two-phase Airport Perimeter Dike Project, which included both raising the height and reinforcing the strength of the pre-existing 4.5-mile dike along the shoreline of the airport’s South Field, is expected to be completed by September.
The project looks to provide OAK, the fourth-busiest airport in California, with protection against future flooding and sea level rise brought about by climate change for the next 30 years, according to the Port of Oakland.
Though the initiative cleared state environmental review requirements in 2015, it has become more important in recent years. A U.S. Geological Survey 2019 study found increased future flood hazards in California through a model that incorporates projected sea level rise with flood events like storms and coastal change.
The Port of Oakland’s 2019 Sea Level Rise Assessment found that by 2050, a projected 2 feet of sea level rise could cause extreme storms to flood the airport’s entire North Field and vulnerable sections of the South Field.
“OAK operates at the edge of the San Francisco Bay, and this work ensures the airport can safely serve the region for generations to come,” said Kristi McKenney, executive director at the Port of Oakland, about the dike’s renovations.
Deferred maintenance
The Oakland airport dike was created in the 1950s to safeguard the airport’s South Field from its surrounding open Bay waters, readying the airfield for expanded commercial air travel.
However, due to the effects of erosion and rising sea levels, the Port of Oakland believes the dike requires structural maintenance roughly every 30 years. The dike’s first maintenance came in the 1980s, making the embankment overdue for new infrastructural renovations.
The project’s first phase, focused on “flood protection and sea level rise adaptation,” raised OAK’s dike a foot above the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s standards for coastal flood infrastructure. The construction took place from 2020 to 2022, costing approximately $30 million.
The second phase, “seismic resiliency,” was added to the project in 2024 to strengthen the dike against earthquake damage by reinforcing a 5,000-foot section of the seawall with deep soil columns. Construction began in 2025 and is expected to conclude in September of this year, with a final projected cost of $52.7 million.
The project is part of larger efforts by the Bay Area’s two waterfront airports, OAK and San Francisco International Airport, to sustain their operations amid rising sea levels. Plans are in the works to upgrade pumps and drainage systems at OAK’s North Field, while SFO is working to approve its Shoreline Protection Program, a long-term infrastructural project aimed at protecting the airport’s edges from flooding.
