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Watching the Ravenel Bridge Grow

Watching the Ravenel Bridge Grow. T.S. Eliot (East Coker from the Four Quartets) put it this way: 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. C. Frank Starmer

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Watching the Ravenel Bridge Grow

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  1. Watching the Ravenel Bridge Grow T.S. Eliot (East Coker from the Four Quartets) put it this way: 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 C. Frank Starmer Charleston and Singapore http://frank.itlab.us

  2. How this happened My wife and I have a small kitchen house on Ashley Avenue. From time to time some of our grandchildren would come for a visit. Frequently we took them to the South Carolina Aquarium – a great place for grandkids and grandparents. During August and October 2003 I took photos of the kids standing on the outside terrace. Later I noticed that the Ravenel Bridge was growing. This started a weekend trip to the pier adjacent to the IMAX theater. I built a web page to share the photos: http://ravenelbridge.net. The web page opened many doors. Here is the story of what I saw.

  3. The Diamond Pylon FoundationNovember 2002 K1 Courtesy of SC DOT

  4. Base of the Diamond PylonsSpring 2003 K2 Courtesy of SC DOT

  5. West Diamond BaseSummer 2003 K3 Courtesy of Alvin Swails (east tower crane operator)

  6. As Seen from the SC AquariumAugust 21, 2003 A visit to the SC Aquarium with my grandchildren revealed this. This was my first bridge photo. K4

  7. Growing Diamonds:November 2003 K5

  8. The Mt. Pleasant Approach:Morning sun bathes the east approach columnsJuly 4, 2004 K6

  9. The Charleston Approach Growing the west approach columns July 4, 2004 K7

  10. Early Main Span: May 9, 20041 stay cable completed K8

  11. Fog Surrounds the Main Span My first visit to the main span. I was struck by the number of independent processes: building a cable, placing concrete road sections, balancing the bridge. July 21, 2004 K9

  12. Completing the Approach Skeleton Sunday morning (7am) bicycle rides across the Pearman Bridge provided breath-taking views of the construction. This morning, the Mt. Pleasant Police were running interference for me October 17, 2004 K10

  13. The Charleston Approach Skeleton The symmetry of the structural steel drew my attention to small details – was anything out of place? May 23, 2004 K11

  14. A Cable Strand A stay cable is built one strand at a time. The cable is fed up the stay cable pipe and terminated in the tower and bridge platform. Here the Freyssinet workers feed a strand down to the termination plate. July 21, 2004 K12

  15. The Last Stay CableFebruary 11, 2005 K13

  16. Freyssinet: Building the Last Cable I was fascinated with the process of building a stay cable. Composed of many strands, pairs of cables were fed from spools up the stay pipe. Each strand was terminated at a shark fin anchor and within the diamond towers February 11, 2005 K14

  17. The Pride of Charleston and PBC I met many workers during my photo adventure. Here is Marvin Tallent, displaying the workers’ collective pride January 28, 2005 K15

  18. Closing the Main Span GapJanuary 23, 2005 K16

  19. The Last Shark Fin Girder Jan. 28, 2005 K17

  20. East and West Coming TogetherFebruary 6, 2005 K18

  21. Closing the GapMarch 5, 2005 K19

  22. Hydraulic Jacks Orient the SpansMarch 8, 2005 K20

  23. Three Inches To GoMarch 8, 2005 K21

  24. Perfect Alignment: Pinning the Splice Plate to the Girder Pins are driven through the splice plate and girder. The plated is bolted to the girder and then there is one span. March 8, 2005 K22

  25. Adding the last sections of the roadbedMarch 10, 2005 K23

  26. PBC at workMarch 10, 2005 K24

  27. Concrete Roadway + Rebar GapsMarch 12, 2005 K25

  28. Filling the Gaps: Concrete is pumped through a pipe where the last gaps are filled March 12, 2005 K26

  29. Signed, Sealed and DeliveredJuly 15, 2005 K27

  30. A “Clean” BridgeJuly 12, 2005 K28

  31. Sunset over the Ravenel BridgeJuly 16, 2005 K29

  32. July 16, 2005: thus ended the First Day K30

  33. Thanks • Thanks to Stephen Jennings White Sr. and the Karpeles Museum for the opportunity to tell the Ravenel Bridge Story • Thanks to Leah Greenberg for her willingness to be my voice and for her encouragement • Thanks to Brian Muller, a young, but old time Charlestonian and member of my IT Lab at MUSC – for being my technical hands. • Thanks to my wife, Ellen, for starting and managing this project and attending to the endless details while commuting between Singapore and the US

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