The Cooper River Bridge
Charleston, SC

BEGA in the Sky with Diamonds!

The first thing most people notice when viewing the Cooper River Bridge are the massive concrete diamond shaped pylons pointing skyward. The effect is dramatically enhanced by the bright white cables which give the appearance of mystical harp strings strung across the river. Neither of these spectacular illusions would be possible without an abundance of BEGA 8393MH Floodlights partnered with glare-reducing 662 Concentric Ring Louvers. The magnificent end result is a sight to behold from miles away.

Building this bridge was a major design challenge because it had to withstand a Category 5 hurricane (which would be stronger than Hugo). It also had to be able to take a direct hit from a container ship, as well as an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter Scale. In order to do this, 425 shafts had to be drilled (most are 157 feet deep), then rebar cages, some weighing as much as 100 tons, had to be dropped into the shafts, and then entombed in concrete.

The resulting bridge stretches 3.5 miles from Charleston to Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. In all, 128 cables cascade from the bridge’s towers to the 1,546-foot-long section of roadway between the towers.

The project cost $632 million and took 3,000 workers over four years to complete. A bridge like this changes not only how a city looks, but how locals and visitors alike look at a city.