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CoES on the Cooper River Bridge
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The 1546 ft. cable stayed
span hangs from two diamond towers. These towers reach over
575 feet into the air and support a road deck almost 200 feet
above the median high tide mark.
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 Charleston
has long been identified by its “Cooper River Bridge”
— first the two-lane John C. Grace Bridge and later the three-lane
Silas N. Pearman Bridge.
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Both the Grace and Pearman
bridges will be dismantled once traffic rolls on the new Ravenel
Bridge. |
Through
the years, images of these two cantilever bridges, with their intricate
steel trusses, have adorned postcards, T-shirts, key chains and
a myriad of souvenirs. For nearly half a century, they were the
primary landmarks guests looked for when visiting South Carolina’s
largest city.
Soon the Charleston skyline will evolve once more, and a new eight-lane
icon will span the horizon.
The
S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) is building America’s
longest cable-stay span to replace the existing bridges that cross
the Cooper River and connect Charleston and Mount Pleasant along
U.S. Highway 17. The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, named for the S.C.
senator who helped secure funding, is easily the state’s biggest
project with a total cost of $644 million.
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The Cooper River Bridge's
1546 foot main span is suspended by 128 individual cables
between the support piers. Cables are anchored on the deck
level and inside of the diamond towers. A single cable is
composed of many seven-wire strands twisted together. Some
of the strongest cables on this bridge are formed by 90 seven-wire
strands. To protect the cables from changing weather conditions
they are enclosed in a high density poly-ethylene (HDPE) pipe. |
Clemson connection
None
of the architectural renderings of the new Ravenel Bridge features
the ubiquitous Clemson Tiger Paw, but perhaps they should have.
From preconstruction to ribbon cutting, College of Engineering and
Science (CoES) alumni have played key roles in the project.
Alumnus
Matt Lifsey ’90 is a surveys/utilities engineer with SCDOT.
From July 1998 through fall 2000, he was project manager for the
Cooper River Bridge Replacement Project. During that period, the
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was completed, and the final
environmental approval for the project was received. The main-span
length of 1546 ft. was established, a major milestone. Lifsey says
his most significant challenge was balancing unique issues while
working within a constrained budget.
“The
Cooper River Bridge Replacement Project was, by far, the largest
and most challenging project I've ever managed,” says Lifsey.
“It has also been one of the most rewarding experiences of
my professional career.” One of his last contributions to
the project was being a part of the team responsible for packaging
the design-build contract documents and selection of a contractor.
The
chosen contractor is Palmetto Bridge Constructors (PBC), a joint
venture between Tidewater Skanska, Inc. of Norfolk, Va. and Flatiron
Constructors, of Longmont, Co. Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and
Douglas provided design services. One of the S.C. companies that
worked with Parsons Brinckerhoff is the LPA Group. LPA provides
engineering, architectural, planning and environmental services
for the development of airports, roads and bridges.
Alumnus
Fred Kicklighter ’89, M ’91 is manager of roadway design
for LPA. As a high school student growing up in North Charleston,
Kicklighter recalls driving a school bus full of junior-varsity
basketball players across the old Grace Bridge.
“The
two narrow lanes made that bus seem HUGE,” recalls Kicklighter.
“It felt like I was barely clearing the superstructure. I
don’t know who was more scared, the students who were riding
or me.” Little did he know that two decades later, he’d
be involved in a project that would replace not only the old Grace
Bridge but the newer Silas Pearman as well.
“This
new bridge will outlive me,” says Kicklighter. “So as
the years go by, it’ll always be something that I can look
at and tell my grandchildren — I helped build that bridge.”
Several other Clemson alumni will be able to make that claim.
Wade
Watson ’78 has spent his career building marine structures
up and down the Southeast coast — bridges, offshore structures
for the Coast Guard, docks for aircraft carriers and submarines,
and large piers for the Navy. The Ravenel Bridge, however, is the
largest and most complex project he’s been involved with.
An employee of Tidewater Skanska Inc. ,Watson is the project manager
for PBC.
“Basically
we had to put together a half-billion dollar construction company
in a matter of just a few months, said Watson. “We had to
hire people, get everybody integrated and get a team pulling together
and going in the same direction.”
Important members of that team include SCDOT employees
who are also Clemson alumni.
Graduate
Tim Henderson ’90 is the youngest of four engineers in his
family, yet he’s working on the largest project any of them
have ever been involved with. He’s the assistant project manager
for SCDOT, the “owner” of the project and administrator
of the contract.
“One
big challenge on this project is the design-build nature of the
contract,” says Henderson. “By integrating the design
with the construction, you compress the whole time schedule.”
Quality Control
Ascertaining
that the bridge components meet the state’s criteria is the
job of QA-QC inspectors. SCDOT also has an oversight role in quality
assurance.
Clemson
alumnus David Wertz ’97 also the youngest of a four-engineer
family, is an assistant resident engineer for the SCDOT. He grew
up in Charleston and remembers, as a child, asking his dad if the
Grace and Pearman
bridges were the largest in the world.
“I’ve
worn several hats throughout the three-and-a-half years I’ve
been on the project,” says Wertz. “Currently, I am one
of two assistant resident engineers on the main span, doing inspections
and assuring that everything is being built according to plans and
specifications.”
Another
Clemson alumnus who’s making sure that everything meets specifications
is Keith Ingram ’99. Ingram is a special project manager for
PSI, one of the subcontractors providing quality assurance services
to the SCDOT.
“The
main thing we test is concrete,” says Ingram. “This
bridge is designed to have a useful life of 100 years, and since
most of the bridge is concrete, we take our job very seriously.”
Completing
the SCDOT roster are two Clemson engineers who graduated together
in 2002. In fact, Daniel Burton and Justin Davis had partnered on
their senior capstone project and are now project engineers. One
of their challenges was gaining the respect of the contractor and
subcontractor personnel.
“Early
on, it was painfully obvious that we were the new kids on the block,”
says Davis. “It’s challenging sometimes to have to tell
someone who’s older and more experienced that they haven’t
met specs or design criteria. We make every effort to be tactful
and consistent. People respect that.”
The
two have also been involved in public relations outreach efforts,
making presentations to groups in the community and conducting tours
for visitors to the site.
Both
Henderson and Watson point out that this project is about more than
erecting a structure. It has given them the opportunity to reach
out and build bridges within the community. They’ve established
several initiatives that have had a positive impact on local residents.
Disadvantaged and minority businesses have received an economic
boost from providing building services and supplies. A job-training
program has meant career development opportunities for some 100
people from the surrounding neighborhoods.
Henderson
points out that the SCDOT and PBC have a genuine partnering relationship.
“It’s not something we walked into,” he observes.
“We built this relationship over time — its foundation
is trust and communication and honesty, and it’s a partnership
that has benefited the community and the state.”
“People
who went to Clemson, and the faculty, staff and current students,
talk a lot about the Clemson family,” observed Watson. “It’s
part of the ‘Clemson experience’ on campus, but those
ties remain and continue, even after graduation. We’ve sure
felt it here.”
The
PBC and SCDOT teams have worked well together. The project will
finish a year ahead of the contract schedule. Plans are being made
for opening the bridge this summer, and there’ll be plenty
of Clemson alumni on hand for the celebration.
More of the Clemson SCDOT team
While this article focuses on Clemson alumni working out of the
SCDOT office in Charleston, there are several others stationed at
the Columbia headquarters who made significant contributions to
the Cooper River Bridge Project.
Assistant
state bridge design engineer Barry Bowers ’85 was part of
the design review team, making sure that plans met seismic, wind
and collision specifications.
Quality
management engineer Jay Hawkins ’85 is a member of the quality
management team, reviewing field operations and documentation for
all SCDOT construction projects including the bridge.
Bridge
construction engineer Charles Matthews ’68 is part of a "final
acceptance team" performing weekly inspections on various portions
of the project.
Quality
program manager Todd Steagall ’90 oversees the SCDOT quality
management team.
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