New River Gorge Bridge

The West Virginia New River Gorge Bridge is the longest arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere at 3,030 feet long. The bridge was built 876 feet above the New Gorge River and is the third highest bridge in the U.S. The bridge opened in 1977 and the cost of construction was 37 million! Only one man was killed during its three year construction, which is remarkable when you think about it. 

Back in November 2023, a friend and I signed up to do the Bridge Walk. We got to walk on the catwalk from beginning to the end and learned more history about the bridge. The New Gorge River Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places back in 2013. 


I decided to make the NRGB (for short) it's own series and post because I wound up taking several shots of it. When I got into Polaroid photography, I knew I wanted to go back and take pictures of the bridge one day. I got the chance, albeit it was a rainy and dreary day but the shots came out beautifully. The shots below were taken at different angles because this bridge is massive. I also love the idea of photographing a subject from multiple angles. I can't put into words why, but just scratches an itch of mine. 

 

 

 I saw the weather forecast but took a chance regardless because sometimes the weather app can be wrong. Unfortunately, it was correct that day. However, the rain did let up a little. Given that this area of WV is in the Appalachian Mountains, the fog/mist was heavier after the rain. I love how the cloudiness gives the bridge a haunting ambience. 

 

 

 My Polaroid doesn't do the size of the bridge any justice. When I tell you this bridge is huge; it's huge.

 

 

 

 

  These photos were taken at the bottom of the gorge. I managed to capture some whitewater rafters coming down New River. 

 

 

 

 The photos below are from November 2023. I like to add my iPhone photos into the post because sometimes it's difficult to capture the breadth of the scene/subject with the Polaroid's viewfinder. 

 

 

 This is the New River taken from underneath the bridge. There's an annual Bridge Day event that takes place. The entire bridge is shut down for the day. During this day, people can BASE jump or zip line off the bridge.