Changing the face of Charleston : The unbuilding of the Grace and Pearman Bridges
Frank's Internet Home Page
Blog: 2005
Archives of unbuilding sections
Blog: 2006
The story of building the Ravenel Bridge
Visit our
Adventures in Singapore
Click to view all web page segments
I enjoy hearing from you. If you have comments and suggestions, write me.


Unbuilding Highlights
(Apr 10)
Meeting St. Stories
(Jul 10 2006)
East Bay Stories
(Oct 10 2006)
Drum Island Stories
(Feb 17)
Pearman Bridge Stories
(Apr 3)
Grace Bridge Stories
(Apr 3)
Imposions: Prep and boom
(Mar 27)
Unbuilding Bridge Blog
(July 23 2006)
Unbuilding Challenges
(Mar 13)
Learning Links
(Feb 20)
Unbuilding Stories
(Mar 13)
Video and Sounds
(Feb 28)

November 24, 2005:
Thanksgiving holiday and a chance to catch up

Josh (our youngest) came here with his girlfriend and Thanksgiving evening we walked over to the MUSC parking garage roof and looked at the worksite. It was cool and clear and the Ravenel Bridge was lit.

Looking to the left a bit, was a fun photo of the ghost-like western section of the Pearman.

November 25, 2005: The day after Thanksgiving

Since everyone went home for the Thanksgiving holiday, I had a small small window of opportunity to catch up with the work. The major work appears to be removing the Grace roadway as it enters the Cooper River. Pearman roadway removal seems near the end. The Grace and Pearman approaches on the Charleston side are near extinction - i.e. the Stonehenge monument's days are numbered.

Here is a sleeping Cooper River worksite

Many Pearman piers are fully drilled and ready for the next step

Grace no longer traverses Drum Island - here is the end of the road

However, the Coleman recycle center still accumulates roadway, girders, rails and shoulders from the Grace and Pearman bridges. Shown here is the mound of rebar extracted from concrete sections of the bridge.

I just thought this was a fun photo - Cousin Arthur Ravenel in the background looking over the situation while two cats (a 330 grapple and 375 shear) took a Thanksgiving break. The 375 shear's arm nicely framed the Grace and Pearman superstructure.

Click to view all unbuilding web page segments

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

Attribution: C. Frank Starmer and Sparky Witte from http://oldcooperriverbridge.org