Bridge Day

Beckley, West Virginia, USA

On Bridge Day people crowd on the bridge to watch the people jump off the bridge and land in the valley. Lots of people jump off and the crowds are huge.

West Virginia's largest one-day festival happens around Beckley. In October the residents of West Virginia have a festival that is called Bridge Day. When they have Bridge Day, over 200,000 people come to the festival to watch jumpers parachuting off of the New River Gorge Bridge. They jump 876-feet in the air and land in the new River. People called Repellers hang underneath the bridge and just have fun going down their ropes.

It is celebrated on the 3rd weekend in October . It marks when the New River Gorge Bridge was completed in October 1977

One of America's Top One Hundred Festivals

The 3,030-foot New River Gorge Bridge took three years to complete and cost nearly $37 million dollars because of the type of arch design, and the depth of the gorge. The steel was moved into position by specially built trolleys running on three inch diameter cables stretched between two 330-foot towers. More than 88 million pounds of steel were used. The bridge is made of cor-ten steel which is beautiful and doesn't need to be painted. The span arches across the New River. It is one of the oldest rivers in North America and is considered to be America's best whitewater. What a spectacular view you get from the bridge of the Appalachians and New River.

We should all take a Flying Leap

Jumpers love it/ Can you imaging jumping off a bridge into a river gorge? Thousands do this event that not a lot of ordinary people would want to do. It's only takes a few seconds to travel from the bridge railing to splash down in the New River. Jumping requires a brave daring person and a lot of water-safety, communications and emergency personnel. Everything is ready here for a wonderful day.

Join millions of visitors as you walk across the longest, single-span steel arch bridge and take in the views from 876 feet up in the air.

If you want to know more about Bridge Day then go to the official website: Click Here

We became so interested in bridges that we designed and created our own bridges. We found new things about them that take in more than just being a structure. Resposible engineering, in consultation with communities and tourism boards, will consider the impact of a new structure to a land scape and that the best option may not always be the cheapest option. Check out our designs and read our thoughts about tourism and bridges.

Return to our Sustainable Tour.

info by Alicia and Vynessa - Can
photos by W.V.
editing by the Kiwi Team