The Bridge

Completed on October 22, 1977, the New River Gorge Bridge solved a travel challenge by reducing a 45-minute drive down narrow mountain roads and across one of North America's oldest rivers to less than a minute. Mountains posed a road-construction challenge here, and that challenge became a work of structural art. In June 1974, the first steel was positioned over the gorge by trolleys running on three-inch diameter cables strung 3,500 feet between two matching towers. Michael Baker Company designed the bridge, and the American Bridge division of U.S. Steel constructed it using Corten steel with a rust-like appearance that never needs painting. Bridge Day is held annually on the third Saturday of October to celebrate the bridge's completion, opening it to pedestrians and a wide variety of activities that draw tens of thousands to West Virginia's largest festival. The roadway is 876 feet above the New River, the bridge is 3,030 feet long, and the arch is 1,700 feet long; two Statues of Liberty and one Washington Monument can fit under the arch with 20 feet to spare.

West Virginia · United States