New River Gorge Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Massive steel arch bridge over New River on US 19 east of Fayette
- Location
- Fayette County, West Virginia
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Opened on October 22, 1977
- Builders
- - American Bridge Co. of New York (Contractor)
- Michael Baker Corporation of Moon Township, Pennsylvania (Engineer)
- Design
- Steel deck arch
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 1,700.0 ft.
Total length: 3,030.0 ft. (0.6 mi.)
Deck width: 69.0 ft.
- Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 2013
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +38.06906, -81.08271 (decimal degrees)
38°04'09" N, 81°04'58" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 17/492745/4213480 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Fayetteville
- Average daily traffic (as of 2015)
- 18,426
- Inventory numbers
- NRHP 13000603 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 35084 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of September 2017)
- Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 68 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- October 25, 2021: New photos from Dylan Clarke
- March 27, 2020: Updated by Andy Peters: updates GPS coordinates
- November 22, 2019: New photo from Jack Schmidt
- February 25, 2018: New Street View added by Dana and Kay Klein
- July 11, 2016: New photos from Royce and Bobette Haley
- December 23, 2015: New photos from Charles Kuehn
- June 12, 2015: Photo imported by Michael Miller
- July 10, 2014: New photos from Andrew Raker
- July 9, 2014: New photo from Andrew Raker
- March 3, 2013: Photo imported by Ben Tate
- September 10, 2012: Photo imported by Ben Tate
- January 15, 2012: New photo from Loyd Lowry
- July 19, 2011: Updated by Nathan Holth: Merged NBI and Added Builders
- May 26, 2010: New Street View added by Joshua Collins
- March 28, 2010: New photos from Tom Hall
- March 28, 2010: New photo from James Simmons
- April 1, 2009: New photo from Joshua Collins
- February 21, 2009: New photos from Bob Morgan
- April 18, 2006: Posted photos from James Adorno
Related Bridges
- Fayette Station Bridge (Predecessor)
Sources
- James Adorno
- Wikipedia
- Bob Morgan - morgans212 [at] att [dot] net
- Joshua Collins - Bigjc1979 [at] aol [dot] com
- James Simmons - james [at] simmons [dot] net
- Tom Hall - thomas [dot] hall [at] ffni [dot] com
- Nathan Holth
- Loyd Lowry - loydplowry [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Todd Wilson
- Andrew Raker
- Charles Kuehn
- Royce and Bobette Haley - roycehaley111 [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Dana and Kay Klein
- Jack Schmidt - jjturtle [at] earthlink [dot] net
- Andy Peters - anpete1971 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Dylan Clarke
Comments
Wow! Dylan, that elevation view from Long Point is spectacular! You really get a feel for how immense that arch is by the size of those tiny vehicles on the bridge!
Regular guided catwalk tours offered:
These are some great photos. Post away I would say. This is such a spectacular bridge!
You talked me into it.
Well.... it wasn't EXACTLY "the catwalk tour". I was one of the rappellers. Rope #5, 825 feet. If I can get my GoPro video trimmed down to size, I might consider posting it. But I'll see if I can peel some stills out of it so I don't overwhelm the site's bandwidth.
So.... we just got done with Bridge Day in WV, and I have some photos from the catwalk, and on rope videos during three 825 foot rappels. These may be a bit off-topic, so I'm wondering how the consensus feels about them being posted here?
R.K. Thompson
Two years ago this bridge was featured on a USPS stamp, a $4.95 priority mail.
http://www.beyondtheperf.com/stamp-releases/new-river-gorge-...
Now this bridge is featured on a NRHP weekly update for August 23, 2013 listing it as being added to the register.
I believe that this is the old bridge:
Does anybody have pictures of the old bridge?
Too bad the Chinese put up a bigger thru-arch... I think it is in Shanghai. The "Lupo Bridge" as I believe is the span's English translation, looks sweeping, but being in a huge city, it don't cut it in looks like the New River Gorge span!
This is an amazing thing to see. I've rode underneath it on a train, and rode in car across it. It's just amazing.
Hi guy, I live 10 minutes from the bridge there are quite a few campgrounds around the gorge. Most of the rafting outfits offer camping as well. As most national parks you simply need to see what restrictions are place on actually camping in the park itself. It is permitted and usually on a first come first serve bases in areas it is allowed. but you can always hike in and camp where you would like . Just watch, you don't want to be rolling off a rock face . Pack in and pack out . Leave West Virginia Wild and Wonderful.
Funny you'd say that the New River Gorge Bridge was awesome at night. I was on a business trip to West Virginia two years ago and the bridge was on my list of places to see. I was still looking for it when someone pointed out to me that I had already driven across it three times! At night, to me anyway, it just looked like a long, straight stretch of pavement.
If you ever decide to go back, it is part of the New River Gorge National Park. There is no camping in that particular park, but you're not that far away from lodging.
This is quite an awesome site from an 18 wheeler when you are least expecting it at night. Would love to go back over it in the daylight. It's been some time since I was there, but have been searching all over for it again. It was something at the time that we wanted to forget, but now would like to ride our motorcycles back to see it. We live in MO. Could you send us more info about it. Camping areas around there, historic sites, etc. Thanks.
This is quite an awesome site from an 18 wheeler when you are least expecting it at night. Would love to go back over it in the daylight. It's been some time since I was there, but have been searching all over for it again. It was something at the time that we wanted to forget, but now would like to ride our motorcycles back to see it. We live in MO. Could you send us more info about it. Camping areas around there, historic sites, etc. Thanks.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/wv/fayette/new-river/
Thanks Paul! If you wanted to see it for yourself, I highly suggest the trail out there, as it’s fairly short and well maintained. It really is a spectacular spot!