It may have taken a couple of years to get it to this point, but the Washington State Dept. of Transportation has turned to the open house phase to show off plans for the Colman Dock ferry terminal in downtown Seattle.

The $326 million project—with money also coming from the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration—expects to create a new terminal and Water Taxi facility with the joint venture of Hoffman-Pacific leading the work. With construction schedule to start in mid-2017 and complete in early 2023, ferry service at Colman Dock will continue through the project.

The state’s largest ferry terminal, which annually serves a total of nine million riders, including five million foot passengers, has seen serious deterioration from the aging of the wooden pier structure. With additional seismic vulnerability concerns, the time for a new dock is now, according to the state.

The new Seattle Multimodal Terminal at Colman Dock will improve safety and seismic strength while dealing with conflicts that arise when vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians merge into one place. The timber trestle portion and its 7,400 tons of creosote-treated timber piles will get replaced, along with the main terminal building. The dock layout will get reworked, including the vehicle transfer span. The project also calls for maintaining a connection to the Marion Street pedestrian overpass and opening up shoreline to the public.

The timber trestle will take a modern twist, with a new concrete and steel trestle eliminating the environmental hazard from Elliott Bay while meeting current seismic standards. The new terminal creates a more efficient passenger circulation model while increasing public views of the water and pedestrian connection to Alaskan Way and the new Seattle waterfront design.

WSDOT and the Washington State Ferries are currently hosting an online open house for public comment and have three traditional open houses scheduled until April 26. With the general contractor/construction manager team in place, the joint venture will support the state agencies through the final design and into construction.

Follow Tim Newcomb on Twitter at @tdnewcomb.