Fun Facts About the New River Gorge Bridge

The New River Gorge Bridge is a structure of amazing statistics and fun facts. Before the NRG Bridge was built you had to make a twisty winding trip down into the gorge, cross the river on the little bridge and then wind your way up the other side. Once the Big Bridge was open it was like opening the doors to travel and commerce. Locals got to easily travel to visit family and friends, while travelers got a shortcut on the East Coast with amazing views of the New River Gorge.

Opened and dedicated on Oct. 22, 1977, the span has since become the symbol of West Virginia. Made of “Cor-Ten” ultra-strong weathering steel, the bridge was designed to blend into the surroundings and save approximately $1 million for every paint job it doesn’t need. Designed by Engineer Michael Baker, Jr, the bridge took just as long to design and engineer in man hours as it did to build, more than 3 years. Today, approximately 16,000 vehicles drive across the bridge each day.

We can’t get enough pictures or stories about the Bridge, and we’ve compiled some fun facts about our favorite single-span steel-arch bridge.

The Bridge is:

• as long as 2,272 16-inch Pies and Pints Pizzas lined up crispy crust to crispy crust, aka 3030 feet
• as tall as 1,752 cups of Cathedral Cafe Fair Trade Coffee stacked up on on one another, aka 876 feet
• as wide as 208 carabiners from Waterstone Outdoors lined up end to end, aka 69.4 feet
• weighs as much as 83,810 fully rigged and loaded 6-person rafts, aka 88 million pounds
• the span is as long as 284 mountain bikes lined up tire to tire, aka 1,700 feet

We hope you enjoyed these fun facts as much as we did.

What’s your favorite bridge fun fact?