New River Gorge Bridge, one of the world's longest bridges

The New River Gorge Bridge is located in Fayetteville, West Virginia. The bridge is a steel arched bridge and was once the longest steel arched bridge. The bridge is 3,030 feet long, (924m), and the arch rises 1,700 feet high, (518m).

Highway US 19 uses the bridge to cross the New River. With the bridge being at a height of 876 feet that makes it the highest bridge in the Americas and the second highest bridge in the world. Locals of Fayetteville believe that the travel time from one side of the Gorge to the other has been reduced dramatically by using the bridge.

Construction on the bridge began in June 1974 and was completed on October 22, 1977. The bridge was designed by the Michael Baker Company and built by U.S Steel's American Bridge Division. The bridge cost $37 million to complete. The bridge was built using COR-TEN steel, which created some challenges during the build such as ensuring that the weld-points weathered at the same time and the other steel used on the bridge.

The bridge is host to `Bridge Day', which is an extreme sports event revolving around the bridge held on the third Sunday of October every year. This day is West Virginia's largest festival. There are hundreds of BASE jumpers and over 80,000 spectators to the gorge. Restaurants from the region also showcase their finest foods and creations. Traffic on the bridge is closed for six hours so that spectators are able to safely walk the bridge.

BASE jumping is one of the most extreme sports and jumps have been happening on the bridge since 1979, in 2008 there were over 800 jumps off the bridge. Jumpers are able to make as many jumps as they can off the bridge within the six hour period, with the best viewing points being on the bridge. Visitors to Bridge Day are also able to use the Highline, which is a 600 ft rope that hangs from the underside of the bridge.