Qualla: New River Gorge Bridge https://qualla.com/new-river-gorge-bridge en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:06 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/y/2/new-river-gorge-bridge-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: New River Gorge Bridge https://qualla.com/new-river-gorge-bridge New River Gorge Bridge: Introduction https://qualla.com/new-river-gorge-bridge/ Photo credit Mr.schultz, CC BY-SA 3.0. Before the bridge opened on October 22, 1977, getting across the New River Gorge by road meant winding down 800 feet of switchbacks to a small bridge at the river, then climbing 800 feet of switchbacks back up the other side. The trip took 45 minutes. When the New River Gorge Bridge opened, the same crossing took 45 seconds. The change was so abrupt that locals still describe it as the day West Virginia got bigger. The bridge that did it is 3,030 feet long with a steel arch spanning 1,700 feet. The roadway sits 876 feet above the river - third-highest bridge in the United States. For 26 years it held the world record for the longest single-span arch bridge. It is now seventh, the longest outside of China, and unambiguously the most iconic engineering structure in West Virginia.

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Image: Mr.schultz | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/y/2/new-river-gorge-bridge-wp/dny2-new-river-gorge-bridge-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full New River Gorge Bridge: Corridor L https://qualla.com/new-river-gorge-bridge/ Photo credit Public domain. The bridge exists because of a federal program. In the 1960s, the Appalachian Regional Commission was established to attack the region's chronic poverty by building modern infrastructure. One product of the commission's work was the Appalachian Development Highway System, a netwo...

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Image: Public domain

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/y/2/new-river-gorge-bridge-wp/dny2-new-river-gorge-bridge-corridor-l.mp3 0:06 2 full New River Gorge Bridge: Building the Arch https://qualla.com/new-river-gorge-bridge/ Photo credit Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0. Steel arch bridges go up in halves. Construction crews erected cable towers at either end of the gorge and ran a network of high cables across the canyon. The half-arches were built outward from each rim, supported by the cables, until the two halves met at the center high above ...

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Image: Chris Light | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/y/2/new-river-gorge-bridge-wp/dny2-new-river-gorge-bridge-building-the-arch.mp3 0:06 3 full New River Gorge Bridge: An Icon and Its Costs https://qualla.com/new-river-gorge-bridge/ Photo credit Public domain. The bridge has become the visual signature of West Virginia. The U.S. Mint chose it for the reverse of the state's quarter, released in 2005. It appears on tourism advertising, in the video game Fallout 76, in the 2002 film Steal, and on countless postcards. On August 14, 2013, w...

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Image: Public domain

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/y/2/new-river-gorge-bridge-wp/dny2-new-river-gorge-bridge-an-icon-and-its-costs.mp3 0:06 4 full New River Gorge Bridge: The Gorge Beneath https://qualla.com/new-river-gorge-bridge/ Photo credit Antony-22, CC BY-SA 4.0. While the bridge was being designed, there was a parallel argument about what should happen to the gorge it spanned. Some local boosters wanted big resorts and intensive development to follow the new highway. Environmentalists fought back, and on November 10, 1978, just a year af...

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Image: Antony-22 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/y/2/new-river-gorge-bridge-wp/dny2-new-river-gorge-bridge-the-gorge-beneath.mp3 0:06 5 full