Unbuilding the Grace and Pearman Bridges


For Sparky and myself, curiosity drives passion which in turn fuels our life's engine. Our passion was capturing the story of both unbuilding the Grace (1929 - 2007) and Pearman (1966 - 2007) Bridges and discovering the unbuilders. It takes a lot of passion to track a project from July 2005 until April 2007 - rain, shine, hurricanes or moving to Singapore. We discovered the joy of discovery learning. Ken Canty opened the front door for us - then Steve Testa, Ponch Billingsley and Mickey Rogers opened many side doors. Below are the highlights of what we discovered, who we met and what we learned.

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

Home is where one starts from. As we grow older
The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated
Of dead and living. Not the intense moment
Isolated, with no before and after,
But a lifetime burning in every moment
And not the lifetime of one man only
But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.

October 29, 2005:
Removing cables from the Grace

Here, Michael, Richie and Pio are removing the cables from the side of the Grace superstructure.

Michael gently picks up the cable while Richie cuts the support

Another view of Michael's grapple holding the cable while Richie is cutting through a support cable

All the while - high level discussions happen (Richie, Michael, Frank, Pio)

At the bottom of the Grace - nothing remains of the Pearman supports. About half of the Drum Island Grace Bridge supports (up to the Ravenel Bridge) are gone.

and as seen from the Ravenel

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C. Frank Starmer

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