Davis & Floyd supports the South Carolina Memorial Reef’s Highway 41 Bridge Project
August 24, 2017
Davis & Floyd Inc. supports the SC Memorial Reef with a $5,000 donation to help fund the repurposing of the Highway 41 bridge to become an artificial reef located 50 miles off the Charleston coast. The bridge, a 168-foot steel swing bridge that was built in 1939 over the Wando River in Mount Pleasant, was taken down and loaded on a barge on Aug. 18 by South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) and is scheduled to be sunk in several hundred feet of water at the S.C. Memorial Reef site by late summer 2017.
“We are excited to be a part of this wonderful project that takes what has been a part of the Charleston landscape for over seven decades and adaptively repurposes it to enhance the very successful Memorial Reef, which will positively impact our sport fishing opportunities for generations to come,” said Stephen Davis, president & CEO of Davis & Floyd. “As engineers, we love creating things that last and positively impact our state, and this aligns perfectly with our company’s core values of sustainability and conservation.”
According to SCDNR, the Memorial Reef fund was started by an independent group of anglers who wanted to honor the memory of late family and friends through the construction of an artificial reef. The South Carolina Governor’s Cup advisory board of directors, working in conjunction with SCDNR, now oversees management of the Memorial Reef, which is a part of the permitted Marine Protected Area called the Charleston Deep Reef.
“With an estimated cost of $180,000 to purchase, clean, and transport the structure, this project depends on contributions from conservation groups, private individuals and companies such as Davis & Floyd,” said Amy Dukes, tournament coordinator for the Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series. “We are thankful for their support of the Memorial Reef.”
The bridge is currently undergoing a careful cleaning process. All artificial reef structures placed by the SCDNR are stripped and cleaned to protect the marine environment. The cleaned bridge will then be welded to a 130-foot retired barge, adding complexity to the reef structure and providing 44 feet of vertical clearance in total. Finally, the completed structure will be sunk in several hundred feet of water at the South Carolina Memorial Reef site, joining two other structures that were place in 2014 and have already had great success attracting fish such as snowy grouper and large billfish such as blue marlin and sailfish.
About Davis & Floyd
Davis & Floyd, a multi-discipline professional engineering firm, works collaboratively with its clients to design and build innovative projects that improve the lives of the communities and residents it serves. With over 60 years of continuous operation and service to its clients, the privately-owned business has more than 175 employees located in five offices across South Carolina including Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, Greenwood and Florence. The firm focuses on the market sectors of transportation, water resources, industrial, federal government, local government and private development. For more information about Davis &Floyd’s services and team, visit davisfloyd.com.
