Engineers and critics proclaimed colorful descriptions of the unique structure, deeming it "the first roller-coaster bridge" and citing that "steep approaches, stupendous height, extremely narrow width, and a sharp curve at the dip conspire to excite and alarm the motorist."

By the 1960s, the Grace Memorial Bridge had become functionally obsolete, with its two narrow 10-foot (3.0 m) lanes built for Ford Model As and its steep grades of up to six percent.

Furthermore, the vertical clearance above the river—once among the highest in the world—could no longer accommodate shipping vessels as they grew bigger over time.

When officials revealed in 1995 that the Grace Bridge scored a 4 out of 100 for safety and integrity, retired US Congressman Arthur Ravenel Jr. ran for the South Carolina Senate with a goal of solving the funding problem.

Some felt that the bridge should not be named after Ravenel, with the head of the South Carolina infrastructure bank saying in 1999, "Certainly, Arthur Ravenel is a fine, decent person, but that bridge is bigger than any one individual and it should reflect all the qualities of the state and not some state senator who happens to be in the Legislature the time the structure is being built.

The roadway consists of eight 12-foot (3.7 m) lanes, four in each direction plus a 12-foot (3.7 m) bicycle and pedestrian path, which runs along the south edge of the bridge overlooking Charleston Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean.

The bridge structure is designed to withstand shipping accidents and the natural disasters that have plagued Charleston's history.

The span is designed to endure wind gusts in excess of 300 mph (480 km/h), far stronger than those of the worst storm in Charleston's history, Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

The Ravenel Bridge is designed to withstand an earthquake of approximately 7.4 on the Richter magnitude scale without total failure.

To protect the bridge from errant ships, the towers are flanked by one-acre (0.40 ha) rock islands.

[6] The path was included in design of the new bridge because of grassroots efforts by groups, such as a fifth grade class at a local elementary school.

The joint venture partners were Tidewater Skanska of Norfolk, Virginia and Flatiron Constructors of Longmont, Colorado.

Originally, each of the towers was to be topped with a 50-foot (15 m) multicolored LED "beacon", but public opinion caused this plan to be scrapped.

The self-climbing system meant that the tower cranes did not have to spend time raising the forms after each segment of concrete hardened, and instead could be better used to haul material from barges below.

Construction of part of the roadway actually occurred over the top of the old cantilever bridges, which remained open to traffic without interruption.