Skip to main content

The New River Gorge Bridge

Known best for the annual 'Bridge Day,' held every October to celebrate this engineering feat's birthday, the New River Gorge Bridge is one of West Virginia's best-known road features.  The bridge completed in 1977 has also served as an economic stimulus for the New River Area, as various adventure and outdoor oriented business have flourished because of the improved accessibility to the region's true natural wonder, the New River.  Built as part of Appalachian Regional Corridor 'L,' the New River Bridge spans 3,030 feet in length.  At 876 feet over the New River, it is the third highest bridge in the US, and the arch length of 1700 feet made the bridge at the time it opened the longest steel single arch span in the world.  (The bridge is now the third longest of its kind in the world and the longest within the US.) Corridor 'L' is simply nearly 70 miles of US 19 from the West Virginia Turnpike Exit 48 to Interstate 79 (Exit 57).  It serves as a shortcut for many travelers from Western Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario to the South and vice versa.  Personally, I cross this bridge and travel this route a number of  times a year between North Carolina and Pittsburgh.

The Canyon Rim Visitor Center is the one of the better and most accessible of locations to take photos and learn about the bridge.  It is just off the north shore landing of the structure.  At the visitor center, there are a number of vantage points.  One, a quick walk that leads to a viewing platform from just above highway level (shown above) or through a longer and more strenuous trek - there are a lot of stairs - to a viewing platform that affords views of the bridge (see below) and of the New River Gorge below.  The Canyon Rim Visitor Center features exhibits and video presentations about the geological formation of the river, the area's coal heritage, and of course the bridge itself.  The visitor center is also a great place to stop and have a picnic and in our case let the kids get out and play for a little bit.

The 40 year old bridge replaced a turn of the century structure that sits less than 20 feet over the river.  It also eliminated a 45 minute down the ridge, across the river, and back up the ridge venture that motorists wishing to cross the New River at this location had to take.  Once the bridge opened, US 19 moved from an alignment to the bridge's south, over modern day WV 41, onto Corridor L and the new bridge. 

The Fayette Station Bridge viewed from the lower Canyon Rim overlook.
"Bridge Day" is a celebration of the bridge and also of the recreational opportunities the New River has to offer.  The event, first held in 1980, features bridge jumping, rappelling, a carnival atmosphere, and more.  The festival is West Virginia's largest one-day event.  For More Information visit the New River Convention and Visitors Bureau's Bridge Day Site.  The festival is held the third Saturday of every October.  John and Barb Bee attended Bridge Day in 1989 and received a certificate recognizing their completion of walking across the bridge.

Today, you can do a rather unique bridge walk yourself.  Bridge Walk, LLC offers guided tours along the catwalk underneath the bridge.  The tours are offered daily and cost $69/person.  This unique tour was first offered in 2009 as a partnership between the WV Department of Transportation, National Park Service and Bridge Walk, LLC.  Since then, over 30,000 people have taken part of this tour.


Construction on the bridge began in 1974 and was completed three years later at a cost of $37 million.  The bridge officially opened to traffic on October 22, 1977.  The bridge was featured on the back of the West Virginia state quarter by the US Mint in 2005.

Site Navigation:
Sources & Links:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Abandoned US Route 40 in the Truckee River Canyon

Within the Truckee River Canyon in the Sierra Nevada range numerous abandoned portions of US Route 40 can be found alongside modern Interstate 80.   This segment of highway was opened during 1926 as a bypass of the Dog Valley Grade which carried the early North Lincoln Highway and Victory Highway. The corridor of the Truckee River Canyon State Highway would be assigned as US Route 40 when the US Route System was commissioned during November 1926. During 1958 the segment of Interstate 80 between Boca, California and the Nevada state line was complete. When Interstate 80 opened east of Boca numerous obsolete portions of US Route 40 were abandoned. Some of these abandoned segments have been incorporated into the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail.  Part 1; the history of US Route 40 in the Truckee River Canyon The Truckee River Canyon for centuries has been an established corridor of travel known to native tribes crossing the Sierra Nevada range.  The first documented wagon crossi...

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced...

The William Flinn (not Flynn) Highway - Pittsburgh's Misspelled Street

For decades if you traveled along PA Route 8 in Pittsburgh's North Hills suburbs, you would have noticed signs that read "William Flynn Highway" at every intersection.  Even today, many businesses and residences have their addresses listed as XXXX William Flynn Highway.  However, it's not William Flynn Highway, it is William FLINN Highway - and the gentleman who it is named for has a long and storied past in Pittsburgh's infrastructure history. William Flinn was born in England in 1851; however later that year, his family emigrated to the United States and would settle in Pittsburgh.  A 10-year-old school dropout, Flinn grew interested in politics and would join the Allegheny County Republican Party in 1877 as a ward commissioner and a seat on the Board of Fire Commissioners.  Flinn would serve in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives and Senate from 1877 to 1902. (1) Flinn along with James J. Booth would found the Booth and Flinn construction firm ...