Posted on 07/16/2005 5:42:49 PM PDT by SmithL
Charleston, S.C. -- Hundreds of people filled an eight-lane highway in place of cars and trucks Saturday to dedicate the $632 million Ravenel Bridge over the Cooper River, the longest cable-stayed span in North America.
"We have created not only a bridge, but a thing of beauty," said Arthur Ravenel Jr., the former state senator and U.S. congressman for whom the span is named.
The bridge's 1,546-foot main span is supported by cables stretching down from the tops of a pair of diamond-shaped, 570-foot-tall towers. Unlike suspension spans such as San Francisco's Golden Gate, where the deck is suspended beneath two hefty main cables that connect the towers in a lengthy curve, the Ravenel cables extend directly from the towers to the deck.
"It's a wonderful, beautiful structure," Ravenel told the crowd of at least 1,500 people.
The eight-lane bridge, which took four years to build, carries U.S. 17 between Charleston and Mount Pleasant, along with pedestrian and bicycle lanes. The main span is about 200 feet above the water and will allow larger cargo ships to enter the port. Construction began four years ago, and the bridge was finished about a year ahead of schedule.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I tried liniking it for you but they've got it blocked. Sometimes sites do that. You'll catch on... Helps if the file type is an image file like a .jpg or .gif.
"I always hated driving over the "old" Cooper River bridge."
There were many stories of Yankees coming up to that 2 lane 8ft. lanes and freaking out and stopping before the bridge.
I got a job with the Bridge Division of S.C. working with the man who engineered the building of the "old" Cooper River bridge. My first job, standing around since I didn't know anything, was to watch concrete being poured into a hole in one of piers of the Old Cooper River bridge. The state had hired some scuba divers to inspect all the piers and they found one that had a hole so big in it a man could swim around in it. Yeah that bridge was scary alright.
Ravenels uh? Old money family.
I hate it more than you do. Do not look to the horizon.
Riding across the GG Bridge is a PITA on a windy day. :):)
It was the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. There is something 'just not natural' about diving down under water in one's car.
Plus there have been stories about Boston's underground/underwater tunnels which are breached, with water leaking.
I like to stay above ground, thank you!
I still don't get it. Sorry.
Well, I was pretty clear.
Better brush up on those English skills.
Every year at the end of April (Azalea Festival - Summerville) they have the bridge run. I don't know if they will be doing it ever again. But it was a big international deal. Yep, seems like the Kenyans always won it.
We were coming into Charleston from the Isle of Palms on the city bus when I was about five and the bus broke down on the span on the Mt Pleasant side. We had to walk down the bridge to the next bus. I remember wanting to dive into the water and my mother pulling me around to the other side of her away from the railing.
Also remember my Granddaddy having to drive all the way up to Huger and then down to the Isle of Palms when the ship ran into the bridge. Momma told me that one family that were neighbors were in a car that had fallen into the river that day.
That was the old, old bridge. Then there is the old bridge and soon those graceful lines won't be part of the skyline any longer. Just the starkness of the new "Cuz"way or the if you want the Double Diamonds!
Does that bridge (the first one) have guard rails. It sure doesn't look like it.
Well, I guess we have Madonna's other bra here in Charleston. It sure looks like ours, doesn't it?
I first heard the expression from my cousin when I was in Sydney some years ago. You can use it for your bridge too. :)
"Does that bridge (the first one) have guard rails. It sure doesn't look like it."
It does have 2 rails. They're about the same height as the bottom of a car door window. If you Google "New River Bridge" there are tons of pictures available. You should be able to find some links to the annual "Bridge Day" event. They close the bridge to traffic and allow rapelling, bungee jumping and such off of it.
I served as a Congressional Staff Assistant to U.S. Rep. Arthur Ravenel, Jr., 1st Congressional District, South Carolina from 1992 to 1994...
What a great conservative and Congressman/Senator 'Cousin' Arthur was!
"Ravenels uh? Old money family."
I sent this article to my Charlestonian born and bred wife and she made the exact same comment...lol.
"When I lived in Charleston there were chunks of pavement falling out of the old bridge on a semi-regular basis."
Lord I'm glad I never saw that happening. I would have just jumped over the side, pulled my reserve and then swam over to Mt. Pleasant.
Are you talking about Summerville GA?
I wasn't surprised to see the name of it, but I can't remember the other old money families since it's been 30 years.
"ship ran into the bridge"
Seems to me that rings a bell, but I can't be sure. Did this happen a long time ago? I was there from 73 - 76.
Before the Confederate flag fight was over in 2000 I heard that Ravenel was offered to name a bridge after him if he'd change his vote. It was just a rumor at the time, of course. Maybe its just coincidence that he changed his vote and five years later, in the short memory of the public, the rumor came true. Or not.
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