Building the Ravenel Bridge


After all the photos I took, I've tried to arrange them in some order based on various topics I found interesting.

And a reminder from T.S. Eliot (East Coker from the Four Quartets)

Old men ought to be explorers
Here and there does not matter
We must be still and still moving
Into another intensity
For a further union, a deeper communion

Staging the flow of material

Staging the construction materials: cement trucks, cable anchors, forms etc.
Composing a another movement of the symphony of barges

July 4, 2004

Last week, I sort of stumbled upon the placing of steel beams on their support piers and I got to thinking about the logistics and orchestration of the fabrication, transport, delivery, positioning and final attachment of all the zillions of pieces bridge stuff. What does the staging of construction material delivery look like. So this week, I focused on the construction of the circular piers as well as the bridge platform and noticed the barges aligned and ready to deliver the next batch of stuff.

A line of barges with different construction materials - beams with attached cable anchors, cement trucks, circular forms and rebar. Note the two spuds to the left of the crane (click on the left image to see the full image) that anchor the crane to the river bottom. Much of the steel is fabricated by High Steel Structures.

Growing the west side piers

Growing east side piers - looking east and looking west

Anchors waiting by the Yorktown

July 11, 2004 Waiting Anchors and cross beams

Here you can see the extension of the eastward platform, using two of the anchor beams shown above (July 4). That they have been used is illustrated in the left photo showing only 2 anchor beams on the barge in contrast with 4 beams last week (see above).

A waiting cement mixer for filling the forms for the west approach pier

July 18, 2004 Continued movement of beams to the east and west piers

September 25, 2004 Two helper tug boats and helping men

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

C. Frank Starmer

_

-->