As a child, I remember when this bridge had two-way traffic. By the time I started driving, they had built another bridge with traffic heading in the opposite direction. When I was young, I used to drive over this bridge so nonchalantly, but after looking at this video, I can see just how intimidating this bridge really was.
She probably meant the old Grace Memorial Bridge, which this is. But it was the only one and had two way traffic!!! Those lanes were very narrow, video doesn’t do it justice!
Now try to imagine when this was the only river crossing and traffic was two-way. Clutching that steering wheel for dear life, bouncing over those old expansion joints while oncoming traffic whizzes past you just inches away. Driving over it at night must have been even more terrifying, blinded by headlights coming at you and in your rearview mirror.
What really shows that this thing was doomed form the start is that it was bluit in roughly 2 years, which is an abysmally short amount of time. Wonder why it became obsolete after only 50 years, hmmmmm?
Wow. I remember this bridge well. I was in middle school in the late 80s when my grandparents and I went to see family in Beaufort from Johnsonville. I moved 5 years before the demolition. This bridge is why I love bridges today. You knew you were in Charleston when you crossed that bridge.
I've never forgotten that bridge and wish it was still around to take my daughter on it. I was in Charleston in 2003 and commuted daily from Mt Pleasant to Charleston Air Force Base. I'll never forget that bridge and how white-knuckled I was every time I went across it. You didn't get to look out the window at any views. You kept your eyes straight ahead. LOL Thanks for sharing the video. Brings back some great memories of crossing that scary crazy bridge.
I did not see anything scary about it. On the other hand, you should have crossed the Huey P Long Bridge in New Orleans before they widened it. It shook badly when a train was crossing it. 2 lanes each way for traffic and they were 9 feet wide, czcams.com/video/C7QLQklbLOE/video.htmlsi=PVX7N-UhDy3vUOG7
The first and only time I drove over that was at night, during a rain storm at the end of a very long day of driving from Maryland via Long Island. Got to a restaurant and handed my wife (girlfriend at the time) the keys and drank a few beers with dinner before she drove us to our motel for the night. Never forget it. White knuckled the whole way across that thing.
Wow, so many memories- including stalling out before the peak of the second span. I would have forever forgotten the road just before the bridge if not for this video.
I remember this bridge in the early 2000s cause I went to kindergarten in Mount pleasant. Even though the bridge was very old and had alot of negatives behind it, im glad I was able to experience it before it was demolished
I was watching one of those "world's scariest bridges" videos and I was like what was that old bridge in Charleston that scared the crap out of me as a kid? And here it is, so thank you!
girl bye: When you're afraid of heights and traveling over water like I am it can be very scary, I only went across the bridge once during my 11 years living in Charleston, I live in Miami Florida now. 😌
I remember living in Charleston in 1977 and I had to take driving lessons and one of my lesson was to cross the cooper river bridge in the car I was in training happens to be a gremlin
Oh my gosh...no way. I could NOT have driven on that bridge as a teenager, especially for my driving test! At least a Gremlin was smaller. I also took my test in 1977. Mom had a 1974 Monte Carlo. I think in that car it would have seemed to take up too much of the lane. I would need a valium after driving over that bridge!
I crossed this bridge once, in my uncle's motorhome in the 80s. I was terrified because up high in the RV it looked like we'd go over the side. Then I really started panicking when it sounded like we were hitting the side of the bridge. IIRC they forgot to put the step up and it was scraping against something. I was maybe 10 and the adults got a kick out of my fear and messing with me saying we're going over! I was so relieved once that was over
THE ORIGINAL COOPER RIVER BRIDGE BOTTOMED OUT ON THE STREET CALLED LEE STREET - STILL THERE - AND LEE STREET ENDED AT MEETING STREET... IF YOU TURNED LEFT ON MEETING, YOU HEADED INTO THE CITY OF CHARLESTON... IF YOU TURNED RIGHT - YOU HEADED AWAY FROM CHARLESTON... IF YOU CONTINUED STRAIGHT, THE NEXT STREET DOWN WAS WALNUT STREET AND MY MOM AND HER TWO SISTERS AND BROTHER, GREW UP IN A HOUSE ON WALNUT STREET... THAT HOUSE WAS EVENTUALLY REMOVED TO MAKE WAY FOR THE 1-26 ON-RAMP... THE ORIGINAL COOPER RIVER BRIDGE CREATED QUITE A THRILL WHEN CARS STARTED GETTING WIDER AND IT WAS STILL A TWO-WAY BRIDGE AT THAT TIME...lol
Not from CHS but spent my summers there from age baby. That is and will forever be “the old Cooper River Bridge,” not to be confused with the new one, which had a reversible lane and has now also been gone for at least a decade.
I lived in Summerville in the early 90’s and was a delivery driver in the Charleston area at that time. I was so afraid of going over this bridge. The white knuckles are a fact!! I’ve been over the new one a time or 2 coming back to visit. That one is quite impressive although a little scary itself!
Im from Charleston,Ive driven this bridge a few times and believe it or not it actually sways too. The video is good but I must say til your actually doing it you cant know. That old bridge was very narrow. I still have dreams about that old bridge to this day. Glad they demolished it and built something more suitable for the times.
When I was in 3rd grade, we lived in Walterboro. We went to the beach at Isle of Palms and had to cross the original bridge to and from. It was terrifying to me. Always dreaded that part of the trip.
I drove across the Ravenel Bridge twice during a road trip from Salt Lake City to Myrtle Beach and back. Amazing bridge! Then I moved to Charleston in 2019 and only then did I start hearing stories about the old Cooper River Bridge. The Don Holt Bridge is nutso to drive across, the Ravenel not so much. But now seeing this footage, I can see how crazy it was.
Thanks for the memories. The worst was when someone decided to park at the top and take that once in a lifetime leap. Driving on the bridge is awful. Being stuck on the bridge in traffic for hours is even worse.
It was absolutely nerve-wracking! Even as a little kid riding in the back seat, i was terrified we'd either smash into another car or drive right off the bridge 😬
I'm a teen and so i was born after these bridges were gone but i've had family describe how horrifying they were and damn this video really shows that, it's almost as tall as the ravanel and its like 10ft wide 💀💀
This is true, but I really did love traveling over them. Most of my family was terrified of them. My dad did, too. Probably where I got my crazy from. :)
This is the older span when it was made this was the only span here but when they made the other spin on the left in the video they made more lanes and more bigger and less narrow so there’s gonna be traffic on it the order span only has two narrow lanes and it’s very dangerous
I remember that because that was the year we had to move back to Greenville Sc from down there witch I really wish I was back down there I miss it there
Think this bridge is bad imagine this one. It’s not here in Charleston anymore as they built a new one that’s less sketch. czcams.com/video/CZy-BRZ7swQ/video.htmlsi=qMk5C7I-LOn0BnMI
@@jessecumbee6156yep. Not a well designed bridge at all. Even the people in the 1920s knew this, and the engineers of both the Pearman and Ravenval bridge fixed this.
Very old and narrow. Imagine this bridge with heavy traffic. That was my experience going over it. The whole time I thought my mom was going to hit the sides.
As a child, I remember when this bridge had two-way traffic. By the time I started driving, they had built another bridge with traffic heading in the opposite direction. When I was young, I used to drive over this bridge so nonchalantly, but after looking at this video, I can see just how intimidating this bridge really was.
They added the second(Pearman) bridge in 1966. Both were closed in 2005 and demolished in 2007.
I lived in Charleston 1964-1968, a Navy brat. My mom hated driving over this but it was the only way to Isle of Palms.
Then they built 526
She probably meant the old Grace Memorial Bridge, which this is. But it was the only one and had two way traffic!!! Those lanes were very narrow, video doesn’t do it justice!
Was a Navy Brat also in 70s,we lived in Chstleston twice and remember the ol rollercoaster.
I only lived in Charleston for one year before they closed those old bridges but that year was epic. Rest in pieces, Grace and Pearlman.
I am a SC native and I went across that bridge throughout the 1990s and 2000s back when I was younger.
Now try to imagine when this was the only river crossing and traffic was two-way. Clutching that steering wheel for dear life, bouncing over those old expansion joints while oncoming traffic whizzes past you just inches away. Driving over it at night must have been even more terrifying, blinded by headlights coming at you and in your rearview mirror.
I did it once and in the rain one way. I would never do it again. I was frozen with fright.
Got that right!!!!
Stormie
My father tells me a story of an accident on that bridge when it was 2 way holding a ladies head together like a cracked coconut.
What really shows that this thing was doomed form the start is that it was bluit in roughly 2 years, which is an abysmally short amount of time. Wonder why it became obsolete after only 50 years, hmmmmm?
Wow. I remember this bridge well. I was in middle school in the late 80s when my grandparents and I went to see family in Beaufort from Johnsonville. I moved 5 years before the demolition. This bridge is why I love bridges today. You knew you were in Charleston when you crossed that bridge.
I've never forgotten that bridge and wish it was still around to take my daughter on it. I was in Charleston in 2003 and commuted daily from Mt Pleasant to Charleston Air Force Base. I'll never forget that bridge and how white-knuckled I was every time I went across it. You didn't get to look out the window at any views. You kept your eyes straight ahead. LOL Thanks for sharing the video. Brings back some great memories of crossing that scary crazy bridge.
I did not see anything scary about it. On the other hand, you should have crossed the Huey P Long Bridge in New Orleans before they widened it. It shook badly when a train was crossing it. 2 lanes each way for traffic and they were 9 feet wide,
czcams.com/video/C7QLQklbLOE/video.htmlsi=PVX7N-UhDy3vUOG7
The first and only time I drove over that was at night, during a rain storm at the end of a very long day of driving from Maryland via Long Island. Got to a restaurant and handed my wife (girlfriend at the time) the keys and drank a few beers with dinner before she drove us to our motel for the night. Never forget it. White knuckled the whole way across that thing.
That bridge was so scary to drive on
This bridge was a right of passage the first and only free roller coaster that you controlled....
Wow, so many memories- including stalling out before the peak of the second span. I would have forever forgotten the road just before the bridge if not for this video.
2 years living in Charleston in late 70’s hated this bridge pins and needles especially at night and winter time
Seeing this makes me slightly less afraid to drive over the new one...
The new one is nothing. The new one is like driving on the freeway and people fly on it.
I remember this bridge in the early 2000s cause I went to kindergarten in Mount pleasant. Even though the bridge was very old and had alot of negatives behind it, im glad I was able to experience it before it was demolished
I was watching one of those "world's scariest bridges" videos and I was like what was that old bridge in Charleston that scared the crap out of me as a kid? And here it is, so thank you!
I swear why it is very scary
I went across this bridge as a teenager back in the late 1970's on the city bus and found it unnerving. 🚌
I only experienced the bridge when I was a baby so I don’t remember anything. 😂 was it scary?
girl bye: When you're afraid of heights and traveling over water like I am it can be very scary, I only went across the bridge once during my 11 years living in Charleston, I live in Miami Florida now. 😌
It was unnerving when we drove over the new bridge in a bus i couldn't imagine driving over that hunk of shit.
I remember living in Charleston in 1977 and I had to take driving lessons and one of my lesson was to cross the cooper river bridge in the car I was in training happens to be a gremlin
Stop it you can't make this up
Oh my gosh...no way. I could NOT have driven on that bridge as a teenager, especially for my driving test! At least a Gremlin was smaller. I also took my test in 1977. Mom had a 1974 Monte Carlo. I think in that car it would have seemed to take up too much of the lane. I would need a valium after driving over that bridge!
I crossed this bridge once, in my uncle's motorhome in the 80s. I was terrified because up high in the RV it looked like we'd go over the side. Then I really started panicking when it sounded like we were hitting the side of the bridge. IIRC they forgot to put the step up and it was scraping against something. I was maybe 10 and the adults got a kick out of my fear and messing with me saying we're going over! I was so relieved once that was over
THE ORIGINAL COOPER RIVER BRIDGE BOTTOMED OUT ON THE STREET CALLED LEE STREET - STILL THERE - AND LEE STREET ENDED AT MEETING STREET... IF YOU TURNED LEFT ON MEETING, YOU HEADED INTO THE CITY OF CHARLESTON... IF YOU TURNED RIGHT - YOU HEADED AWAY FROM CHARLESTON... IF YOU CONTINUED STRAIGHT, THE NEXT STREET DOWN WAS WALNUT STREET AND MY MOM AND HER TWO SISTERS AND BROTHER, GREW UP IN A HOUSE ON WALNUT STREET... THAT HOUSE WAS EVENTUALLY REMOVED TO MAKE WAY FOR THE 1-26 ON-RAMP... THE ORIGINAL COOPER RIVER BRIDGE CREATED QUITE A THRILL WHEN CARS STARTED GETTING WIDER AND IT WAS STILL A TWO-WAY BRIDGE AT THAT TIME...lol
Not from CHS but spent my summers there from age baby. That is and will forever be “the old Cooper River Bridge,” not to be confused with the new one, which had a reversible lane and has now also been gone for at least a decade.
I toured the South 25 years ago and found this the scariest bridge I ever encountered.
I lived in Summerville in the early 90’s and was a delivery driver in the Charleston area at that time. I was so afraid of going over this bridge. The white knuckles are a fact!! I’ve been over the new one a time or 2 coming back to visit. That one is quite impressive although a little scary itself!
Yes indeed, I hate high bridges👍
Im from Charleston,Ive driven this bridge a few times and believe it or not it actually sways too. The video is good but I must say til your actually doing it you cant know. That old bridge was very narrow. I still have dreams about that old bridge to this day. Glad they demolished it and built something more suitable for the times.
That bridge hadn’t been suitable for the times since the 1960s. That thing should’ve been demolished long before it ended up being.
When I was in 3rd grade, we lived in Walterboro. We went to the beach at Isle of Palms and had to cross the original bridge to and from. It was terrifying to me. Always dreaded that part of the trip.
I drove across the Ravenel Bridge twice during a road trip from Salt Lake City to Myrtle Beach and back. Amazing bridge! Then I moved to Charleston in 2019 and only then did I start hearing stories about the old Cooper River Bridge. The Don Holt Bridge is nutso to drive across, the Ravenel not so much. But now seeing this footage, I can see how crazy it was.
Thanks for the memories. The worst was when someone decided to park at the top and take that once in a lifetime leap. Driving on the bridge is awful. Being stuck on the bridge in traffic for hours is even worse.
You know this bridge is long gone right? Are you talking about its replacement?
@@Insertgenericusernamehere809 No, I should have used the past tense. Memories from growing up in Charleston during the '80s.
It was absolutely nerve-wracking! Even as a little kid riding in the back seat, i was terrified we'd either smash into another car or drive right off the bridge 😬
If I'm not mistaken my uncle senator Larry Grooms got to set one of the explosive charges off when they demolished that bridge.
I'm a teen and so i was born after these bridges were gone but i've had family describe how horrifying they were and damn this video really shows that, it's almost as tall as the ravanel and its like 10ft wide 💀💀
A lot of my family always refers to this as the two one terror as it was the original that went both ways
My favorite bridges. I understand they were outdated, but I still loved to go over them.
you are crazy.
This is true, but I really did love traveling over them. Most of my family was terrified of them. My dad did, too. Probably where I got my crazy from. :)
This is the older span when it was made this was the only span here but when they made the other spin on the left in the video they made more lanes and more bigger and less narrow so there’s gonna be traffic on it the order span only has two narrow lanes and it’s very dangerous
Didn't scare me; I just closed my eyes and kept going!
I drove that bridge when it was a 2 way.; I’m that old.
LIVED IN MT.PLEASANT,1970-72. Moultre High,trip across one day firkd trip to Museum,bus tapped the guardrail.
I remember going over this bridge with my parents going to the uss yourktown
I take it this video was recorded in 2005?
Yea, that’s the year it was closed permanently.
very very scary bridge. everyone feared it
because their was outdated from safety inspection an there was also a cargo ship that hit it an killed couple of people back in the early 2000's
No pedestrian walkway on old bridge.
I remember that because that was the year we had to move back to Greenville Sc from down there witch I really wish I was back down there I miss it there
Any sound?
So when's the scary bridge part....oh the video ended....
Always scared me. Glad it's gone
Think this bridge is bad imagine this one.
It’s not here in Charleston anymore as they built a new one that’s less sketch.
czcams.com/video/CZy-BRZ7swQ/video.htmlsi=qMk5C7I-LOn0BnMI
Hardly room for 2 cars side my side and it got curves.
@@jessecumbee6156yep. Not a well designed bridge at all. Even the people in the 1920s knew this, and the engineers of both the Pearman and Ravenval bridge fixed this.
What brand of potato was this filmed with?
The one your mom used
This video could of been recorded in 2005 or 2007 and uploaded in 2010
This video was filmed over 15 years ago...
@@user-hn5zw2eu4ethe bridge was demolished in April 2007, so this footage was NOT recorded then.(likely July 2005)
why was this bridge torn down???
Did you see the video? It was very dangerous to drive on. Very unsafe
Very old and narrow. Imagine this bridge with heavy traffic. That was my experience going over it. The whole time I thought my mom was going to hit the sides.
did you watch this video?
@@vibratingvisions lol before you fall to your death you would get tetanus
Because is scored a F MINUS for decades after the annual safety inspection.