Building the new Cooper River Bridge: The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.

Changing the face of Charleston:
Building of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge

Frank's Home Page		Karpeles Museum display's my story of Building the Ravenel Bridge: Oct 17, 2007 - ? (Permanent Exhibit)
Archive of building stories		Exploring digital sketches
Unbuilding the Grace and Pearman Bridges		Visit our Photo Essays
Click for all web page building segments I enjoy hearing from you. If you have comments and suggestions, write me.

Highlights

As seen from the Aquarium

East Bay on ramp

The Last Shark Fin

Closing the main span gap

Paving the bridge

The last stay cable

Opening Events

Engineering Challenges

Stories of Bridge Folks

Erecting Steel

Building Bridge Blog

Tracking the main span and approaches from the SC Aquarium

2003-08-23 First photos from the SC Aquarium	2003-10-12 The west and east pylons are rapidly growing	2003-10-19 Cargo ships passing under the virtual Ravenel Bridge	2003-10-26 Continued development of the pylons
2003-11-02 Concrete mixing machines at the pylon worksite	2003-11-09 Work on the east and west approach pylons	2003-11-16 The east pylon is catching up with the west pylon	2003-11-23 Structural steel moved into place near the west pylon
2003-11-30 Forms in place on the tops of the east approach piers	2003-12-07 East approach pier capped	2003-12-14 Main span platform started	2004-01-13 Erecting the east platform
2004-01-18 A closer look at the east and west main span decks	2004-01-25 Shark fin edge girders in place on the west platform	2004-01-31 Shark fin edge girders in place on the east platform	2004-02-15 Deck crane erectedon the west platform
2004-02-22 Two deck cranes on the west platform	2004-02-28 West pylon top nearing completion	2004-03-07 First stay cable pulled	2004-03-14 Freyssinet at work - West stay cables assembled
2004-03-21 A dolphin and a different view of the bridge	2004-04-18 Reflections of our bridge and east stay cables pulled	2004-04-26 East approach floor griders extended to the next pier	2004-05-02 Second set of stay cables on the west platform
2004-05-09 Without words - reflections	2004-05-17 Second stay cables on the east platform	2004-05-22 3rd stay cable assembled	2004-05-30 4th shark fin girders added to the west platform
2004-06-07 4th stay cable assembled	2004-06-22 Fifth stay cables assembled on the west platform	2004-06-27 Erecting floor girders between the west approach pylons	2004-07-04 Adding the next set of shark fin girder to the west back span
2004-07-11 Extending shark fin girders to the east back span	2004-07-17 6th stay cable assembled	2004-07-31 Closing the gaps between the approaches and back spans	2004-08-07 7th stay cable assembled
2004-08-14 Eighth cable assembled on the west deck	2004-08-21 8th stay cable assembled	2004-08-29 Closing the gaps between the back spans and the approaches	2004-09-01 9th stay cable assembled
2004-09-05 A bridge near Manzanillo Mexico	2004-09-12 Adding the 2nd set of hurricane cables	2004-09-19 Completion of the west approach with a 3 finned shark girder	2004-09-25 Another hurricane coming and the 10th stay cables complete
2004-09-26 10th stay cable assembled	2004-10-03 11th cable installed on the west platform	2004-10-09 Two edge girder to go - linking the back span with the west approach	2004-10-15 11th stay cable assembled
2004-10-17 12th shark fin girder added on the approach side of the west back span	2004-10-22 12th stay cable assembled	2004-10-31 The squeeze is on - one edge girder to link the west approach and back span	2004-11-01 13th stay cable assembled
2004-11-06 A shark fin splice between the west approach and west back span	2004-11-14 Cargo passing under the main span gap	2004-11-21 13th cable on the west main span	2004-11-28 Shark fin girders in waiting
2004-12-05 15th stay cable assembled	2004-12-12 The west approach expansion gap	2004-12-18 13th cable assembled on the east span	2004-12-19 God's early monring sun kisses our new bridge
2004-12-23 Dark and gloomy - but the channel gap is decreasing	2005-01-02 Adding another pair of shark fin girders to the east main span	2005-01-08 Last shark fin girder extends the west main span	2005-01-15 Last stay cable assembled on the west main span
2005-01-16 16th stay cable assembled (west)	2005-01-22 12th cable assembly on the east main span	2005-01-30 Last shark fin girder extends the west main span	2005-02-05 Sand blasting the pylons and erecting the stay pipe on the east platform
2005-02-12 16th stay cable assembled (east)	2005-02-20 Splicing the east and west main spans	2005-02-27 Dark, gloomy - nothing specific to note (at least by me)	2005-03-06 A bicycle path for Marvin and Laurie
2005-03-13 The west tower crane is growing down	2005-03-19 Half the west tower crane	2005-03-26 Gone is the west tower crane	2005-04-02 A continuous main span - now for the finish work
2005-04-08 The east tower crane is growing down	2005-04-09 The east tower crane continues to grow down	2005-04-14 East tower crane is resting on the rock island barge	2005-04-15 No tower cranes, no barges, just our new bridge
2005-04-23 A view from the Sea Breeze Marina	2005-05-14 Adding the bicycle guard rail	2005-05-27 Paving is complete	2005-06-04 Cargo passing under the completed main span
2005-06-11 From the Imax Theater	2005-06-19 As seen from the Imax Theater	2005-07-12 Views of a clean bridge (A gift from Wade Watson)	2005-07-17 The first day of official traffic on our new bridge

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Attribution: C. Frank Starmer from http://ravenelbridge.net