The U.S. Navy's Pier 4 and Trestle 4 at the Naval Weapons Station Earle serves as homeport for the Navy's fast combat support ships. Halcrow provided complete planning, design, and construction inspection services for the new pier and trestle. Halcrow's design has a number of unique features that make the 945-ft long by 154-ft wide pier highly efficient operationally and extremely cost effective. The most noticeable feature of the pier is the "partial double deck." All of the piping, conduits, hoses, and cables are located on a lower utility deck, below the railroad loading platforms along each edge of the pier, where they will not interfere with cargo handling operations. Utility services provided on the pier include sewage collection and pumping system, power and lighting, steam generation, supply and condensate return, potable water, compressed air, fire water, telephones, HVAC in the buildings.

Other unique features of the pier include: the elimination of all batter piles; the use of 35-ft pile bent spacing; the elimination of expansion joints from the pier; the extensive use of precast, prestressed concrete elements; and the use of epoxy coated reinforcing bars and penetrating concrete surface sealant. The result of these features, along with a number of other innovations, is a pier that is 45 ft longer and 14 ft wider than that on which the Navy's estimated construction cost was based. It has wider railroad car loading platforms; partial lower decks for utilities; improved operational features; more fendering and railroad track crossovers to accommodate a wider range of vessels; and lower maintenance requirements; all at a cost several million dollars below the Navy's original budget.