History in the Making: The New Cooper River Bridge (Opened 2005)

A project that literally changes the Charleston skyline was completed in the summer of 2005. Built by the South Carolina Department of Transportation, the Arthur Ravenel Bridge was designed by an international team working in 20 different locations around the globe. It is now the longest cable stay span in North America.

The bridge replaces two existing truss bridges connecting historic downtown Charleston and the Town of Mount Pleasant along U.S. Highway 17. The mainline structure accommodates eight lanes of traffic (four in each direction) separated by a center barrier, alleviating the traffic burden resulting from the area's burgeoning population.

The main span is suspended by 128 individual cables between the support piers, with each cable capable of supporting over one million pounds. This cable stayed span hangs from two diamond shaped towers at each end of the 1,546 foot span. A signature icon for the region, these towers reach 575 feet (about 58 stories) into the air and support a road deck almost 200 feet above the median high tide mark.

The bridge reaches across the Cooper River nearly 2.5 miles, stretching from Interstate 26 and Meeting Street, Morrison Drive and the Crosstown in downtown Charleston to Mount Pleasant's Johnnie Dodds Boulevard (Highway 17), Coleman Boulevard and Wingo Way.

The bridge design features the latest in seismic considerations, includes a 12 foot wide bicycle and pedestrian lane constructed along the ocean side. This lane runs along the outer edge of the bridge's tower piers, offering observation sites with benches for those who want to stop and gaze upon the beauty of the region.

The bridge is equipped with a state of the art weather station capable of feeding important information like wind speed, deck temperature and precipitation conditions directly to a number of pertinent locations. Traffic conditions along the entire span of the bridge will be monitored through a system of high tech security cameras, providing valuable up to the moment feedback to agencies involved in national security.

The new bridge also incorporates the latest in aesthetic lighting, which can be turned off at specified times of the night to conserve energy. This system also limits bright light pollution, which can be devastating to sea turtles coming ashore during nesting season to lay their eggs.

For more information about this national treasure, please visit www.cooperriverbridge.org.

Special thanks to Frank Starmer for images and article.

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