
Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge - Charleston, SC
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denben
N 32° 47.348 W 079° 55.487
17S E 600683 N 3628422
The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge spanning the Cooper River between Charleston and Mount Pleasant in South Carolina. It is named after Arthur Ravenel Jr. an American businessman and a Republican politician from Charleston.
Waymark Code: WM18KMP
Location: South Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 08/18/2023
Views: 1
From Wikipedia: "The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge (also known as the Ravenel Bridge and the Cooper River Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge over the Cooper River in South Carolina, US, connecting downtown Charleston to Mount Pleasant. The bridge has a main span of 1,546 feet (471 m), the third longest among cable-stayed bridges in the Western Hemisphere. It was built using the design–build method and was designed by Parsons Brinckerhoff.
The Ravenel Bridge is a cable-stayed design with two diamond-shaped towers, each 575 feet (175 m) high. The total length of the structure is 13,200 feet (4,000 m), with the mainspan stretching 1,546 feet (471 m) between the towers. Suspending the deck 186 feet (57 m) above the river are 128 individual cables anchored to the inside of the diamond towers. The roadway consists of eight 12-foot (3.7 m) lanes, four in each direction plus a 12-foot (3.7 m) bicycle and pedestrian path, which runs along the south edge of the bridge overlooking Charleston Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean.
The bridge structure is designed to withstand shipping accidents and the natural disasters that have plagued Charleston's history. The span is designed to endure wind gusts in excess of 300 mph (480 km/h), far stronger than those of the worst storm in Charleston's history, Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Engineers also considered the 1886 earthquake that nearly leveled Charleston. The Ravenel Bridge is designed to withstand an earthquake of approximately 7.4 on the Richter magnitude scale.
The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge was designed for traffic of 100,000 vehicles per day, and forecasted to reach that number in 2030. As of 2018, the bridge was carrying an average of 96,300 vehicles per day. The bridge includes a shared bicycle–pedestrian path named Wonders' Way in memory of Garrett Wonders. Wonders was a US Navy ensign stationed in Charleston and was in training for the 2004 Olympics before he died in a bicycle–vehicle collision. The path was included in design of the new bridge because of grassroots efforts by groups, such as a fifth grade class at a local elementary school.
The bridge is home to the annual USA Track & Field 10,000 metres (6.2 mi) Cooper River Bridge Run on the first weekend of April. This event attracts up to 50,000 people. The route starts in Mount Pleasant and finishes in downtown Charleston at Marion Square." (
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Coordinates are from a pier near the Charleston Aquarium and the Fort Sumter National Monument.