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

Google map resources facilitate visualizing progress with the Ravenel Bridge project For the details, visit the Google map API.
Hold the left button down and drag the map to see other regions of Charleston and Mt. Pleasant.

Reference Photos

Before reference photos

1999:
USGS Satellite Image of the Cooper River and Bridges

October 13, 2003:
Terraserver.com has graciously contributed this 2 meter resolution satellite image of the bridge construction site - (click for the high resolution image). You can clearly see the east and west on ramp work as well as the east and west pylon construction.

and compare with the October 12, 2003 photo of the east and west pylon taken at the SC Aquarium

After Completion

May 22, 2005 From the top of the west pylon

Where the Ashley and Cooper Rivers converge to make the Atlantic Ocean

From the top of the west pylon - Charleston

From the top of the west pylon - Looking west

From the top of the west pylon - Mt. Pleasant

A panoramic view looking west

A panoramic view looking east


Here are the component photos to build the panorama

Every bridge must have a secret - and our new Cooper River Bridge is no exception. Can you find the secret stone in this photo?

July 12, 2005: More views of a clean bridge

Sometimes the chemistry between folks with similar interests is such that unexpected reactions (i.e. surprises) occur. Today was on of those occasions. Wade Watson and PBC organized an early morning helicopter ride around the bridge and arranged to have all extraneous stuff removed. Needless to say - I had two cameras going - and from altitudes ranging from 600 to 1200 ft - this is what I saw. We were doubly blessed since the sun decided to say hello while we were flying. The early morning sun created impressive views of the Arthur Ravenel Bridge while circling between Mt. Pleasant to Charleston.

Looking south from the edge of Drum Island with a C-17 in the upper right

Looking north over the Motley Rice Building

Looking toward Charleston from Mt Pleasant

Another look toward Charleston From Mt. Pleasant

Looking north toward the Naval Base

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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

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