Charleston's Ravenel Bridge Construction Pics

[monsoon]

[Delta]

How cool is that series of the bridges taken from the car!?!

I'm sure it's a very busy waterway with lots milling about and the peeps of today are using their wonderful newfound ammenities, however.....where is everyone? I don't see a soul! I know the hurricane is mentioned. Any relevance? Why is the sailboat out there then? Confused

How great is the last shot!

BTW By this render the older bridges will disappear

Some info from the net on the newer bridge:

"The Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge, linking Mount Pleasant and downtown Charleston, will be the longest cable-stayed span in North America. It will feature two diamond-shaped towers more than 570 feet tall, and will be supported by drill shafted foundations that extend approximately 210 feet into the ground.

The main span length will be 1546 feet with eight traffic lanes and four foot wide, inside and outside shoulders. The main span will also provide a navigation opening of 186 feet vertically for a future 1,000 foot channel."

[pinky]

It appears by those photos that there has not been a great amount of progress made since the last time we were there. I may be wrong...it just looks like there hasn't been a whole lot accomplished...I know it takes quite a bit of time though. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[emerging.me]

Nice! That bridge is gonna be awesome. They've been airing production updates on the PBS station here, SCETV, and I confess to being a total nerd and having watched a couple.

[monsoon]

[M. Brown]

Great pics man.

[BrandonTO416]

Looks like quite the public works project for Charleston. Very tall, and very pricey.

[Spartan]

Wow, sorry it took so long for me to reply to this one! First of all, great shots monsoon- this one is great:

This bridge is quite pricey, but I have heard that it is actually under budget, and ahead of schedule. This is definatley one of SCDOTs better investments.

[prahaboheme]

Charleston is such a beautiful place, that bridge is going to be spectacular, I think I like it better than the new suspended bridge up here (Boston). Also, the aquarium looks really nice, how new is that?

[bobliocatt]

Great thread. That new bridge is really amazing, although I'll be sad, knowing the old bridge from the 1920's will be torn down. I noticed you mentioned something about Charleston's port. They've always been a big player, along with Jacksonville's and Savannah's. Another one to watch out for, is Brunswick's. Jax considers the Port of Brunswick, their strongest competitor, as far as auto processing is concerned.

During the early 1990's Jax's port lost a small portion of its car processing businesses, due to the air and ash pollution from several nearby manufacturing plants. However, that situation has been cleaned up and the port still remains the country's second largest facility, behind NYC's, for foreign auto shipments.

[Fruit Cove]

the last shot looks like something out of halo 2.

[Spartan]

the last shot looks like something out of halo 2.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

haha yeah.

[Spartan]

Just a comment- the main span is almost complete. Most of the remaining work appears to be with the intersections at either end and of course the destrucition of the old bridges. I am wondering how they are going to go about doing that.

[Spartan]

This is an exceprt form the P&C about the new bridge:

"Then, they'll move over to the east tower and install the last four. Once the bearings are in, crews will be able to connect the two decks, probably the first week in March.

Work on the $632 million bridge is more than a year ahead of schedule. The state Department of Transportation hopes to have it open for traffic in late May or early June."

http://www.charleston.net/stories/Default....ction=localnews

These bearings basicly hold the bridge together. The article itself goes into some detail about how that works. I'm just excited that they are about finished with the bridge

[monsoon]

Wow, more than a year ahead of schedule. If this bridge were in NC, it would now be 2 years behind schedule. You guys in SC really know how to do it right.

[prahaboheme]

Charleston is just getting better and better, isn't it?

[Charleston native]

Wow, more than a year ahead of schedule.  If this bridge were in NC, it would now be 2 years behind schedule.  You guys in SC really know how to do it right.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Heh heh, well, let's just say that SC FINALLY got something right! I'm so excited about this bridge, because it is basically Charleston's Golden Gate. This should help propel Charleston into becoming a major city, with the Neck area being developed right next to the bridge. That will become PRIME real estate.

[Spartan]

Just an update here:

"The last 12-foot-wide gap in the deck of the new Cooper River bridge was officially closed at noon Friday... The installation of the last concrete panel finished the 1,546-foot main span. The bridge is the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America. "

The bridge is scheduled to open this spring.

Link

[JW2]

I was just there this weekend and snapped this pic

[prahaboheme]

wow that is a freakin' awesome picture, and bridge! This has become my favorite cable stay bridge. Anyone know if they are going to be lighting it up at night?

[Spartan]

wow that is a freakin' awesome picture, and bridge!  This has become my favorite cable stay bridge.  Anyone know if they are going to be lighting it up at night?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I second that. My guess is it won't light up at night until it opens.

[Charleston native]

wow that is a freakin' awesome picture, and bridge!  This has become my favorite cable stay bridge.  Anyone know if they are going to be lighting it up at night?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There are plans to light up the bridge at night, but only until midnight. Some animal acitvists and stargazers complained that the bridge would confuse sea turtles when they hatch from their eggs on the beach because "its light would look like sunlight" and that the bridge would create more "light pollution" for stargazers at the College of Charleston.

WHAT?!?!?!?!

As a result, the bridge was originally planned to be a "cathedral of light" according to the bridge's designer with 100,000 watt lights aimed at the towers and cables; NOW, due to those stupid placating leaders, the wattage has been reduced to above 30,000 watts and the lights will be off at midnight...except for the actual street lights. I never thought that such a small group of individuals could influence a major project that is supposed to be a source of pride for ALL Charlestonians!!!!

I'm afraid that the lights will be so dim, the bridge won't really stand out at night. Plans also include colored lights for holidays like July 4th and Christmas, but I think that if we want to be awed and inspired by this bridge, it needs to be properly lit. Look at bridges in Jacksonville, San Francisco and New York for crying out loud.

[Spartan]

Well, it doesn't take much to confuse sea turtles. A small flashlight is all you need. That said, I doubt that there are any turtles living in that part of the Harbor/Cooper River. That is incredibly dissapointing.

[Charleston native]

Well, it doesn't take much to confuse sea turtles. A small flashlight is all you need. That said, I doubt that there are any turtles living in that part of the Harbor/Cooper River. That is incredibly dissapointing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, you see, the reasoning is actually worse. They're talking about turtles on Folly Beach and Sullivan's Island!!! It really is unbelievable. These animals are nowhere near the bridge and it will disorient them?! What about the glow from standard city lights??!?!

I actually wrote one of the DOT's project managers about this, and he stated that the bridge will still be quite visible at night. I don't want to be pessimistic about it, but maybe if enough people complained that they want their bridge brighter, they might compromise and fix the lighting to wattage to maybe 60,000 or 70,000. That would still give the bridge distinctive lighting.

Also, the original plans for the bridge were to put huge blue lights on top of the spire towers and were to shine upward...this would allow the bridge to be seen for at least 30 miles!! Leave it to this state's government to diminish the quality and dream of an awesome bridge that would be acclaimed even internationally.

[jfl25]

The picture is nice.I still wonder why this bridge is being called the Ravenel Bridge.On the SCDOT website and to all the people I know that work for the DOT everyone calls it the Cooper River Bridge.