The Ashley River Memorial Bridge Turns 100 As A Third Crossing Rises Toward Brittlebank Park

The river crossing at the foot of the Westside has belonged to cars since the Ashley River Memorial Bridge opened in January 1926. The City of Charleston and the South Carolina Department of Transportation set the bridge's centennial celebration for Nov. 9 at Brittlebank Park, 185 Lockwood Drive, two days before Veterans Day. A third span is now rising beside it, built for people on foot and on bikes. Its schedule is public. Whether its peninsula end connects to Brittlebank Park was handed to a cost-and-schedule decision in July.

A Bridge Built To Be The Only Way Across

The bridge cost $1.25 million and replaced a swing bridge that sat slightly upstream. Charleston Business Report traces that figure to The News and Courier, and the replaced-bridge detail to SCDOT. It opened to traffic in January 1926 and was dedicated that spring to the South Carolinians who died in World War I.

The structure is 1,733 feet long. Its main span is a double-leaf bascule: two 101-foot leaves that lift for boats. In its historic bridge inventory, SCDOT calls it one of the most architectonic and significant bridges the state highway department built in the 1920s, and it points to the Mediterranean Revival-style houses at the corners of the drawbridge. It is one of four drawbridges still operating in South Carolina.

For its first 35 years, the bridge carried traffic in both directions. That made it fragile in a way that is hard to picture now. On Oct. 5, 1955, the ship Fort Fetterman struck the raised drawbridge and cut off what was then the only way across the Ashley River. A temporary fix reopened it after two weeks, and the permanent repair needed another closure.

The parallel T. Allen Legare Bridge opened in 1961 to carry commuters from West Ashley into downtown. Since then the 1926 span has carried U.S. 17 southbound. SCDOT counts about 79,000 vehicles a day on the Legare Bridge. In 1988, the department strengthened the memorial bridge's foundations by adding prestressed concrete piles next to the original piers.

The Walking Question Is The Same Age As The Bridge

The bridge's age matters for the Westside because the debate over walking and biking across the Ashley is roughly as old. Charleston Moves, the local bike and pedestrian advocacy group, dates that debate to the 1920s. It credits Mayor Riley with pressing the issue in the 1980s and puts the start of serious study in 2010.

The first answer was to take a lane away from cars. Engineers studied a stand-alone bridge and a cantilevered bridge before settling on a plan to convert the fourth lane of the eastbound Legare Bridge into a bike and pedestrian lane. The left-turn lane at Bee Street and Lockwood Drive went in on April 1, 2016, as part of that plan. A lane-closure test ran from February into early May 2016. Charleston County Council withdrew its support on Aug. 17, 2017, and SCDOT overrode the City, which was leading the project.

With the lane conversion gone, the remaining option was a separate structure. Two federal grant applications failed. The third succeeded: on Nov. 6, 2019, the City won $18.149 million in federal BUILD money for a stand-alone bike and pedestrian bridge. With the local match from the City, the County and MUSC, the package came to about $23 million. It also included upgrades at three intersections, starting with Bee and Lockwood.

The Third Crossing, Set Beside The First Two

The gap between the third column and the 2019 grant package is wide. The Post and Courier reported in May that the project was estimated at nearly $100 million and expected to be finished in 2027, according to Charleston Business Report's centennial coverage. Charleston Moves says pandemic delays, supply chain problems and the cost increases that followed opened a funding gap, which was filled with additional federal, state and local money. A ceremonial groundbreaking came in fall 2023, and construction officially broke ground in January 2025.

By the City's Traffic & Transportation Committee meeting on July 14, 2026, construction was two-thirds complete, the movable span was being installed and the opening target was fall 2027.

Where It Touches Down Is The Westside's Part Of The Story

The river span is two-thirds built. The peninsula end has changed more than once. On Nov. 26, 2024, Mayor Cogswell presented design changes for the eastern landing to the City Council committee. They added three connections: a safe way across the Lockwood slip lane, a link from the bridge's bike and pedestrian roundabout to that slip lane, and a link from the roundabout to Brittlebank Park. The committee voted unanimously to recommend them. On Feb. 10, 2026, City Council approved another $437,500. Part of that money finalizes the eastern landing design, including a direct connection to the Medical District. The rest covers safety and remediation work after crews found an unexpected creosote pile.

The minutes of the July 14 committee meeting describe the peninsula approach as a dock-style link from the bridge to the Ashley River Walk and Brittlebank Park. The preliminary estimate had risen from $10 million to $13 million. A formal change order and a decision on whether to proceed were expected within 90 days. Charleston Moves summarized what was at stake in its account of that meeting:

"The contractor is finalizing eastern landing designs and estimates, including a connection to the Medical District, to present to Council in the next 90 days, at which point the City must decide whether to scrap Mayor Cogswell's proposed connection to Brittlebank Park"

Counted from July 14, that 90-day window ran to mid-October. The City's own wording in its centennial materials describes the crossing as a bridge linking the West Ashley Greenway to Brittlebank Park, under construction and "on schedule and within budget."

For the Westside, the cost and schedule decision on that dock-style link settles one thing: whether, in fall 2027, people coming off the new bridge can step straight onto the Ashley River Walk and into Brittlebank Park. The contractor is also finishing designs for the Lockwood slip lane and for the Folly Road intersection with the West Ashley Greenway on the far side, and it will apply to SCDES and SCDOT for permits.

What Brittlebank Has Underway Before Then

The park the bridge may connect to is changing on its own schedule this winter. The City put out bids, under project number PRJ-2316, for site work on a new Brittlebank Park playground. The scope covers demolition, grading and drainage, and asphalt and concrete. A separate vendor will install the equipment, footings and surfacing. Bids were due Sept. 15. A City addendum issued Aug. 28 laid out the planned sequence:

1. Council approval on Oct. 13
2. Site readiness from Oct. 14 through Nov. 13
3. Footing installation starting Nov. 16
4. Equipment arrival and installation on Dec. 7
5. The contractor's remaining work in early first quarter 2027

Lockwood Drive has a second piece of public works to mark this month. The City set a ribbon cutting for the morning of Nov. 9 at the William Dudley Gregorie Pump Station, 135 Lockwood Drive. The event marks completion of the U.S. 17 Spring/Fishburne Drainage Improvement Project, which serves the Crosstown. The City's announcement calls the project almost 40 years in the making. Parking for the event was directed to Brittlebank Park and the WestEdge parking deck.

That puts the 1926 bridge, a finished pump station, a playground on a winter build schedule and a bike and pedestrian bridge two-thirds built all on the same short stretch of riverfront. The piece that ties them together is the dock-style link, estimated at $13 million in July, from the new bridge to the Ashley River Walk and Brittlebank Park.

If you are watching how the Brittlebank waterfront and the new crossing will change the Lockwood Drive end of the Westside, and what that means for the streets nearby, Anna Gruenloh is glad to talk it through with you. Let's connect.