End of an Era

By Sparky Witte

This is the true story of the History of the Demolition of the 2 Cooper River bridges . The Grace was complete in August,1929 and the Pearman was completed in 1966. They allowed traffic to flow between Charleston, South Carolina and Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
The Grace was built in 18 months, was a toll bridge and shortly after it was completed the country went into a deep depression.
The Silas N. Pearman bridge was built to ease the high traffic demands that came with the growth of the area. It was a 3 lane bridge, where the Grace was 2 very narrow lanes.
They were being replaced by a new higher span bridge named The Arthur Ravenel Bridge. A cable stay suspension bridge that is much higher for ships to travel underneath it better.
The 2 Old Cooper River Bridge's we removed because they were rusting badly and obsolete.
The contractor was Cashman/ Testa and they we responsible for the complete removal of all the steel and concrete above and below the water, up to 40 feet.
Sparky Witte recorded the history of the removal for over 2 years. This is a coffee table book with the story and pictures of what took place during that time!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491840221

Book preview

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© 2013 Sparky Witte. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/18/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4918-4022-1 (e)

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Contents

The old Cooper River Bridges

END of an ERA

MUSC Pediatric Cardiology Research

The Frank Starmer Story

Acknowledgements

BRIDGE WALK

Fireworks July 14, 2005

Ravenel Bridge Opening Celebration July 16, 2005

Pictures of the Bridges empty

Burn the Bridges run

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

FIRST BLAST OF PEARMAN BRIDGE

MEET THE IRON WORKERS.

ANOTHER BREAK

THE OPERATORS AND THEIR MACHINES

Meet Demolition Dynamics Crew

The story of the Grace Span removal over the Wando River

The Recycling yard

Drum Island

THE DIVERS

Meet Advance Blasting Systems

Frank’s Farewell

Charleston Bomb Squad

Final Blast

Chris Wearham story

The old Cooper River Bridges

The first bridge to span the Cooper River opened in August 1929 in a three-day celebration. Heralded as an engineering marvel of its time, the bridge was over three-miles long and consisted of two cantilever spans. Locals bragged that it was higher than the Brooklyn Bridge. Amazingly the structure was built in seventeen months at a cost of $ 6 million dollars. Its narrow two way lanes and steep inclines and mid-section curve resulted in some calling it the roller coaster bridge. It was called the Great Cooper River Bridge, but later renamed to honor the former Charleston mayor John P. Grace who was instrumental in corporation principals also owned the Isle of Palms and were anxious to bring the newly arriving Charleston tourist to their new island resort via the automobile, which was gaining in popularity. Previously ferryboats were the only mode of transportation. To help pay for the cost of the construction, tolls were levied—fifty cents for driver and car and an additional fifteen cents for each passenger. The bridge also served as an important link in the coastal highway, stretching from Maine to Florida,

Unfortunately the timing of the bridge opening could not be worse! Two months later the stock market crashed and the dream of tourists and investors flocking to the Charleston area were dashed in the Great Depression that followed. Subsequently the bridge investors filed for bankruptcy and Charleston County acquired the bridge prior to it being purchased by the state in 1946 and the dreaded tolls were removed.

The economic boom that followed World War ll increased automobile ownership and the demand for a bigger bridge increased. This was further illustrated in 1946 when a freighter crashed into the bridge during a sudden squall and opened a 240 foot gash in the bridge killing a family of five. The accident created a great hardship between Mount Pleasant and Charleston were forced to travel 80 miles on inland route. Plans were formulated for a second bridge.

The Silas N. Pearman Bridge opened without fanfare in 1966. This bridge, a twin of the earlier bridge, but without the dips and curves, had wider lanes and one reversible lane. As the area grew especially Mount Pleasant, the two older bridges grew obsolete and commuters dealt with daily traffic nightmares. In the 1980’s murmurs to replace the two bridges with one bigger, higher bridge began. Following years of political maneuvering and engineering and financial planning, the new eight lane Arthur Ravenel Bridge opened in July 2005. Despite initial sentimental pleas to " save the old bridges, especially the older Grace bridge, once the new Ravenel Bridge opened to traffic residents enjoyed the speedy and easy commute and barely noticed as the old bridges were spectacularly dismantled.

Pamela Gabriel

Co-author of The Great Cooper River Bridge

Published in 2002 by USC Press

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END of an ERA

Sparky Witte is very proud and privileged to finally present his story of the Cooper River Bridge Demolition Project to you. It has been a labor of love for over two and a half years.

To be there from the beginning, as the bridges were removed, was something he will never forget, nor will he ever stop talking about it!

This has been one of the most fascinating and amazing adventures of his lifetime. There will never be a project quite like this ever again in the Lowcountry!

These are some of the stories that he wants to share with you. There are many more that there just isn’t space for, but if you go to www.oldcooperriverbridge.org you can see many more stories and pictures.

Dedicated in Memory of my Mother. Tommie Witte

She would have been so proud!

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September 4, 1918—December 12, 2012

MUSC Pediatric Cardiology Research

My son Sparky Jr. was just 6 years old when he had to have a pacemaker implanted help his heart beat properly. He went to the MUSC Pediatric Cardiology clinic, where Dr. Paul Gillette, the head of that department, was one of the best Pediatric Cardiac heart rhythm doctors in the world! He and his staff were very professional and made my wife Teasie and I felt very at ease during the whole process.

We will never forget what a wonderful experience it was for my whole family and always wanted to give back to their department in some way.

Dr. Charles Darby has been a friend of the family for my entire life. He represents what is best in America. He is very personable, honest and has integrity. We are indeed honored to know him and call him our friend!

It is because of all of this that we are donating 50 percent of all the proceeds