Posted on 05/07/2005 12:32:15 PM PDT by SC Swamp Fox
Charleston, SC - It's still unclear when the new Cooper River Bridge in Charleston will open.
Officials are having difficulty getting the 632 million dollar bridge paved. It takes just the right combination of temperature, humidity and wind to allow workers to put a two-inch concrete roadway layer over the 15-hundred-46-foot main span of the bridge linking Charleston and Mount Pleasant.
Project manager Charles Dwyer with the Transportation Department says some days they get the right temperature and wind, but the humidity is too low. Only about one-third of the main span has been paved so far.
Awesome piece of engineering and a beautiful piece of art too.
Re paving:
Take your time, but get it right.
Great shot!
Just scroll down. (Broadband recommended.)
The old, old bridge had an astronomical pucker factor.
It also had a tendency to "drift" downstream.
That said, El Cid cadets will now have a better chance of making it back from leave before Taps.
I didn't take the pictures. I read the text only story about the bridge being 99% done and just did a google search for the pictures.
That is a beautiful bridge - I had no idea concrete was so tempermental - good job of them to wait and get it done correctly!
Great pics any way. I have buddy I met in Florence when my nephew was playing at Camden. He is retired Navy I think. I haven't talked to him in a year or so.
He has a very pretty daughter that is going to Francis Marion University.
How sad. I really loved the old bridges. Especially since they drove my ex wife crazy when we crossed them. I always felt so bad for her when she felt ill going across them, but since her pulling the trigger on our marriage, that compasion has changed to a fond memorie of the faint look on her face as we crossed on the old bridges.
Very true. The first time I ever rode over the old, old bridge (before the 'new' bridge was even in existence), it was the experience of a lifetime. Then, the first time I drove over it, was another memorable experience. Although the 'newest' bridge is beautiful, and I understand its need, the two older bridges will be missed, at least by me.
Agreed!
The first time I ever visited Charleston and had to go to Mount Pleasant, I made the serious mistake of driving over the older of the two bridges, the two-lane one.
Never. Freaking. AGAIN.
Every time after that, I always made sure I'd end up on the three-lane bridge, no matter what traffic gyrations I had to do to do it!
}:-)4
It isn't so bad now that both lanes travel in the same direction, it was a hair-raiser when it was two-way, especially when a big truck was coming at you.
Yeah, those were the good old days, ha ha.
I also remember the old bridge in Vicksburg that crossed the Mississippi into Louisianna, it was very narrow & long. They replaced it about 30 years ago. It was very scary too.
My first trip was when I was about 8 years old. I remember my Dad turning the corner and we looked straight up - unbelievable. Then, one lane each way, with a small cable on the right between us and the river below was very scary. And the lanes were VERY narrow!.
I was 19, on leave from the Navy and driving down to visit two of my best friends. (One at Charleston AFB, one at the Citadel.) I decided to take the scenic route down US-17 and had no idea what I was getting into. What should have been an 8 hour drive from Norfolk turned into a 12 hour one, capped off at the end with a white-knuckle, bladder-cramping drive over that bridge. My '72 Grand Prix filled the right lane...semi trucks to the left of me, a couple of steel cables and certain death to the right of me. I got really drunk that night.
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