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Cooper River Bridges

Ravenel is known affectionately as "Cousin Arthur” and prefers the name "Cuzway” as a nickname for the eight-lane bridge.

The need for a crossing of the Cooper River and Town Creek had been longstanding. The issue was how it should be done, and who would finance it. The solution came in 1928 when the dream of Charlestonian John P. Grace and others of building a Cooper River Bridge materialized, with financial backing from H.M. Byllesby and Company of Chicago and its allied financial group. The 2.71-mile bridge, later to be named the Grace Memorial Bridge, was built in just 17 months, at a total cost of approximately $6 million. It was opened with a three-day celebration on Aug. 8, 1929.

The bridge was designed by Waddell and Hardesty of New York, with Charles Kyes Allen as their resident engineer in charge of construction. The sub-structure was built by the Foundation Company of New York and C. E. Hillyer of Jacksonville, Fla. The superstructure was built by McClintic-Marshall Company of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Virginia Bridge and Iron Company of Roanoke, Va. The main span of the bridge, 1050 feet between supports, was the fifth longest in the world, 150 feet above the river and 15 feet higher than the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

The new facility, which was the largest bridge of its type on the world, was operated as a toll bridge by the Cooper River Bridge, Inc. John P. Grace was the company’s president. The toll for crossing the bridge was 50 cents. In 1946, the state bought the bridge and removed the tolls. That same year, a freighter rammed into it, ripping out a 240-foot section. Three steel girder spans had to be replaced.

In 1959, three spans over Drum Island were widened for emergency parking. In 1965, the fender system for Pier 2 in Town Creek was built, and extensive major repairs were made to Pier 6. The west end of the bridge was widened in 1967 to provide an additional lane of traffic coming off the bridge.

In 1979, due to extensive metal deterioration, an 8-ton axle weight limit was posted on the bridge. In recent years, maintenance and repairs have been a continuing and ongoing problem. Today, partly because of the narrow 10-foot lanes and steep grades, the bridge is considered functionally obsolete.

In ceremonies on April 29, 1966, a new $15 million bridge over the Cooper River, parallel to the Grace Bridge, was opened to traffic, and dedicated in honor of Chief Highway Commissioner Silas N. Pearman. Actual construction of the two-mile bridge began during 1963, although preliminary work was begun in 1961. The structure was designed by the consulting firm of Howard, Needles, Tammen and Bergendoff. The bridge would carry northbound traffic on U.S. 17, while the older structure would carry southbound traffic. The 38-foot roadway of the new bridge would provide for three lanes of moving traffic, one lane of which would be reversible, so that it could be used for southbound traffic if and when there was a need. The Pearman Bridge had vertical clearances of 150 feet over the Cooper River and 135 feet over Town Creek, and provided adequate horizontal clearances for the passage of the largest watercraft.

The Boston University Bridge (on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts) is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane. The Cottage Farm Bridge had been open since 1928 and served, according to a preopening description in the Boston Herald-Traveler, as "one of the main links in the main traffic artery between the North and South Shores of Massachusetts." Its location was ideal, notes the paper, as "Braves Field, the home of the Boston national Base Ball team, is but a short distance from the Boston Terminus." The Cottage Farm Bridge replaced an 1850s wooden structure called the Brookline Bridge. In May 1949 the renaming was celebrated with a parade of ROTC members and "pretty Boston University coeds" (according to the Herald-Traveler once more).

The Need

The two existing bridges crossing the Cooper River are functionally obsolete. The 74 year old Grace Memorial Bridge has only two 10 ft lanes, does not have any shoulders, and is limited in its ability to carry vehicles weighing more than five tons. Because of the weight limit on the Grace Bridge, all Charleston bound heavy trucks, recreational vehicles, and busses must be diverted to the single southbound lane on the Pearman Bridge. The Pearman Bridge, built in 1968, has three twelve foot lanes but does not have emergency shoulders or a median separating its northbound and southbound traffic. Neither bridge offers a substantial vertical or horizontal clearance to safely accommodate the latest large shipping vessels. Once the replacement bridge has been constructed the two existing bridges will be removed.

Partners

Building the new Cooper River Bridge would not be possible without the building of partnerships. From addressing the need to replace the existing bridges to finding the resources to pay for South Carolina's largest single infrastructure project, partnerships have been developed across the Cooper River, across Charleston County, across South Carolina, and across the United States. Partnerships have not stopped here; finding the best firms to design and build the bridge has built partnerships across the world and even some just down the street.

Design/Build Services are being provided by Palmetto Bridge Constructors, a joint venture of Tidewater Skanska, Inc. and Flatiron Constructors Inc. Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade and Douglas is providing design services. Tidewater Skanska was founded in 1932 in Norfolk, Virginia as a marine and pile driving construction firm. Tidewater Skanska has earned a substantial reputation as a builder of bridges and marine facilities; they were even called in to rebuild the Grace Bridge in 1942, when it was damaged by the Nicaragua Victory. Tidewater Skanska's parent company, Skanska USA, Inc. was ranked as the third largest contractor in the US by Engineering News Record (ENR) in their May 2004 magazine, the number one International Contractor (Skanska AB) in ENR's 2004 top 225, and the fourth largest Transportation Constructor in ENR's 2002 Contractors Sourcebook.

Flatiron Constructors grew to national prominence from a small construction firm in Longmont, Colorado. Flatiron Constructors also worked with SCDOT and Tidewater Skanska on the Carolina Bays Parkway in Myrtle Beach, SC. Flatiron Constructors is a subsidiary of Royal BAM Group company. Royal BAM Group provides Flatiron clients and partners with the additional confidence that comes from the resources, skills, experience, and financial backing of a global construction group. Royal Bam Group is ranked ninth by Engineering News Record in their 2004 list of the top international contractors.

Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) is the lead bridge designer on the project. They are designing the main span unit which, when completed, will be the longest cable-stayed main span in North America. Transportation has been the cornerstone of PB since its founder, William Barclay Parsons was chief engineer for the original New York subway. Acknowledged as one of the world's leading transportation engineering firms, PB has garnered numerous awards, yielded several industry "firsts", and published guides which have set the standards for their profession. In addition to their work in the Cooper River Bridge Replacement Project, PB is also working with LPA to provide Construction Resource Management with SCDOT, supporting nearly 40 SCDOT projects in the eastern half of the state. This innovative contract enables SCDOT to deliver projects that would normally require 27 years to complete in only 7 years without enlarging the permanent SCDOT staff to meet a temporary peak workload.

To assist SCDOT and FHWA in managing such a large infrastructure, design review and construction engineering/inspection services are being provided by TYLI/HDR, a Joint Venture. Founded in 1954, T.Y. Lin International is an internationally recognized, multi-disciplined civil and structural engineering firm. It is committed to providing innovative, cost-effective, constructible designs for the global transportation infrastructure market. With more than 700 employees working in offices throughout the United States and Asia, the firm is able to provide support on projects of varying size and complexity. Founded in 1917, Omaha, Neb.-based HDR is one of the largest U.S. employee-owned firms providing architecture, engineering and consulting services. HDR employs more than 3,000 architects, engineers, scientists, planners and other professionals in more than 70 cities worldwide.

Just as many firms are working together to provide design/build and construction engineering/inspection services for the new bridge, paying for these services has brought together several different funding partners unified by their desire to build a signature bridge with a 100 year lifespan. The bridge's funding partners include the State Infrastructure Bank, the Federal Highway Administration, and a Transportation Infrastructure Financing Act (TIFA) loan being repaid by SCDOT, Charleston County, and the South Carolina State Ports Authority.

Cooper River Bridge. Copyright 2004 SCDOT All Rights Reserved. Produced by the SCDOT Interactive Media Team.

Extreme Engineering: Cooper River Bridge Watch as workers in Charleston, South Carolina scramble to finish the longest cable-stay bridge in America before hurricane season hits.

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