The S.C. Department of Transportation has decided to replace the Don Holt Bridge over the Cooper River with a wider and taller one as part of an Interstate 526 widening project that will aid the State Ports Authority.
The decision announced March 26 comes a week after the SPA agreed to buy the WestRock paper mill property that abuts the North Charleston Terminal for $105 million.
Port officials had been confidently predicting the bridge would be replaced, allowing larger containerships to reach the North Charleston port site on the upper Cooper River.
"The South Carolina Department of Transportation is playing a pivotal role in the project," the SPA said March 19, in announcing the WestRock purchase. "As part of its expansion of Interstate 526, SCDOT plans to replace the Don Holt Bridge, which will remove height constraints for larger vessels."
The 155-foot-tall, 27,065-foot-long bridge currently limits individual cargo ships bound for the North Charleston Terminal to about 8,000 20-foot containers, but modern ships can carry twice as many, or more.
“Modernizing the terminal, raising the Don Holt Bridge, deepening the Cooper River and purchasing the former WestRock property are all critical components that will yield a state-of-the-art North Charleston Terminal,” SPA CEO Barbara Melvin said when the WestRock deal was announced.
The DOT's confirmation that it plans to replace the Don Holt came as the state addressed a catastrophe in Baltimore, where a containership struck and demolished the Francis Scott Key Bridge during the early morning hours of March 26, sending vehicles into the water.
"Certainly, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Baltimore right now," said incoming DOT Secretary Justin Powell.
Replacing the Don Holt bridge spanning the Cooper River along Interstate 526 with a taller structure is crucial to the State Ports Authority's plans to expand its North Charleston container terminal. The authority also wants to dredge the river to 52 feet, from its current 47-foot depth, to accommodate bigger and heavier containerships visiting the terminal.
Replacing the Don Holt would be a key part of a much-larger project. The state's plan to widen I-526 to eight lanes, from West Ashley to Mount Pleasant, is a multibillion-dollar venture that's divided into two parts due to its scope and cost.
The Lowcountry Corridor East is the part from North Charleston to Mount Pleasant and will require new bridges and elevated roadway because much of the route is over water or marsh.
The Lowcountry Corridor East plan has been moving through reviews and permitting, with multiple alternatives that considered either leaving the Don Holt standing and building a second bridge or replacing it — with replacing the bridge adding as much as $1.7 billion to the cost according to a 2022 study.
"It is our intent to build a taller and wider bridge," Powell said March 26. "You can look at it in a pure dollar perspective, but it adds value to the North Charleston Terminal."
Powell is replacing Secretary Christy Hall, who is finishing out her last week as head of the transportation department.
Powell said replacing the Don Holt would also put "a much more resilient structure" in its place. He compared it to the earlier replacement of two bridges spanning the Cooper River with the Ravenel Bridge.
In the summer of 2005 the Ravenel Bridge was completed, replacing the Grace and Pearman bridges. The new, wider and taller bridge was meant to improve traffic between Mount Pleasant and Charleston and also allowed larger cargo containerships to call on South Carolina's largest port, the Wando Welch Terminal.
Explosives blast the last of the Pearman Bridge as the old Cooper River bridges are demolished following completion of the Ravenel Bridge in 2005.
The Ravenel Bridge cost $644 million to build, with the Ports Authority contributing $45 million.
Powell said there have not been discussions with the SPA about the cost of replacing the Don Holt. He said work on the Lowcountry Corridor East project and the bridge replacement could come in the 2030s, and funding will be addressed as plans progress.
"Obviously, we need to go through our normal planning and permitting process," Powell said.
All together, the Lowcountry Corridor East is expected to cost more than $4 billion. That's in addition to billions more for widening I-526 from North Charleston through West Ashley and redesigning the interchange where I-526 meets Interstate 26.
The Don Holt, named for a former state lawmaker, is part of a link of bridges and roads connecting North Charleston with the Mount Pleasant side of Charleston County.
