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

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

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

_