The New River Gorge Bridge
West Virginia Travelog #17
Fayette, WV - Tue, 19 Sep 2023. 11am
We've already driven over it 4 times this trip. It's easy not to give it a second thought. After all, one's interaction with it is over in about 43 seconds. But it's an engineering marvel that reduced a slow, 45 minute drive down a mountain, across a river, and up the other side, to less than a minute. It's the New River Gorge Bridge.
Today we spent some time with this marvel. We stopped at the visitors center on the north side of the bridge to walk to a viewing platform, then we went on a self-guided driving tour down into the canyon with the help of an audio track Hawk downloaded and played through the car's stereo.
For a long time this part of the country- much of West Virginia, in fact- was considered too remote. Steep gorges like this crossing the land were the key reason why. Yet new reason to try harder came with the discovery of considerable coal deposits in the late 19th century. Railroads forged lines through the New River Gorge in 1873, and with this transportation network now available, more than a dozen coal mining towns sprang up along the river.
There were still the challenges of how to cross the river- and how to get from the rail station at the bottom to anything built atop the gorge. At first ferries were used to cross the river. Then in 1889 the Fayette Station Bridge was built.
The bridge that stands today is a rebuilt copy of the original bridge. It's safe to drive; in fact we drove across it before parking on the south side and walking back to take pictures.
While the bridge replaced slow and apparently dangerous ferry service, there was still the issue of the time taken to drive up and down the steep hills. Even with modern roads and cars, the trip from the top of one side of the gorge to the other takes about 45 minutes. With early motor cars and motor roads, say ~100 years ago, it could easily have been double. In horse-and-carriage days, probably quadruple.
Now the New River Gorge Bridge goes straight across the top, from side to side:
A few facts about this bridge:
Fayette, WV - Tue, 19 Sep 2023. 11am
We've already driven over it 4 times this trip. It's easy not to give it a second thought. After all, one's interaction with it is over in about 43 seconds. But it's an engineering marvel that reduced a slow, 45 minute drive down a mountain, across a river, and up the other side, to less than a minute. It's the New River Gorge Bridge.
Today we spent some time with this marvel. We stopped at the visitors center on the north side of the bridge to walk to a viewing platform, then we went on a self-guided driving tour down into the canyon with the help of an audio track Hawk downloaded and played through the car's stereo.
For a long time this part of the country- much of West Virginia, in fact- was considered too remote. Steep gorges like this crossing the land were the key reason why. Yet new reason to try harder came with the discovery of considerable coal deposits in the late 19th century. Railroads forged lines through the New River Gorge in 1873, and with this transportation network now available, more than a dozen coal mining towns sprang up along the river.
There were still the challenges of how to cross the river- and how to get from the rail station at the bottom to anything built atop the gorge. At first ferries were used to cross the river. Then in 1889 the Fayette Station Bridge was built.
The bridge that stands today is a rebuilt copy of the original bridge. It's safe to drive; in fact we drove across it before parking on the south side and walking back to take pictures.
While the bridge replaced slow and apparently dangerous ferry service, there was still the issue of the time taken to drive up and down the steep hills. Even with modern roads and cars, the trip from the top of one side of the gorge to the other takes about 45 minutes. With early motor cars and motor roads, say ~100 years ago, it could easily have been double. In horse-and-carriage days, probably quadruple.
Now the New River Gorge Bridge goes straight across the top, from side to side:
A few facts about this bridge:
- Construction was started in 1974 and completed in 1977. The steel looks old because of a rust-color treatment that makes painting it unnecessary.
- The span of the arch is 1700 feet (518 meters) long. Its curvature rises 360 feet. The suspended roadway is 3030 feet long.
- When it was built it was the longest steel arch bridge in the world, a title it held for 26 years. China subsequently built four longer arch bridges. This one remains the longest outside China.
- The road deck is 876 feet above the river. When it opened it was the highest bridge (of any design) in the world bearing regular vehicular traffic. Since 2001 a number of taller road bridges have been built, most of them in China.