How was the decision made to rehabilitate the existing bridge rather than build a new one?
Hurricane Hugo and new national bridge standards led the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) to address the aging Ben Sawyer span and review hurricane evacuation options for the east cooper islands. The review led SCDOT to build a fixed span hurricane evacuation route from the Isle of Palms, opening the Isle of Palms Connector in 1993. Community input at public hearings reinforced the desire to maintain the Ben Sawyer Bridges aesthetic appearance and current right of way. The SCDOT chose to rehabilitate the truss and approach superstructures and bring in a comparable structure within the right of way under a design/build contract that was signed in the fall of 2008 with construction to begin in 2009.
