Friday, January 21, 2022

1889,1997 Fayette Station Bridge over New River

(Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; B&T, Blog; HAERSatellite)

The replacement bridge towers over this bridge.

Fayette Station Bridge was the first bridge to cross the New River in Fayette County, West Virginia. The bridge was a result of the road building process when it was a local issue instead of the jurisdiction of the state and federal levels of government. The bridge eliminated the necessity for travelers to cross the dangerous New River in the gorge. [HAER-data]

Street View

In 1997 they essentially built a replica of the old bridge that incorporated just a few of the old members. They used the original construction techniques of V-laced members and pin connections, but they used bolts instead of rivets. It is interesting how "weird" the bolts make the bridge look. I would have thought they were a small enough detail that it wouldn't be obvious, but they do tend to stick out like a sore thumb.

Street View

Roger Deschner Photo via BridgeHunter,
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike (CC BY-SA)

B&T
New River Gorge Bridge and Fayette Station Bridge

Zachary Syner posted
Family poses on Fayette Station Bridge in the early 1900s. Originally, before the construction of the New River Gorge Bridge in 1977, Fayette Station Road was the only way to cross the gorge. The road is a narrow, winding route that descends into the gorge, crossing the New River via a low lying bridge and then climbs up the other side. This road was essential for transporting goods, workers, and coal through the steep and rugged terrain, you can notice in this picture the horse buggy traffic that passed through here.

Zachary Syner commented on his post
Name template of the original 1889 bridge.


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