"The Bridge to Terrorbithia"
or...
"How I Learned to Stop Worrying
and Love the Bridge"

American Society of Civil Engineers
Virginia Tech Student Chapter
New River Gorge Bridge Trip
9/30/5
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Through a series of tremendous strokes of luck, I managed to join virginia Tech's student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers just in time to join their mailing list in just enough time to recieve an email saying that the very next day was the last day to sign up for this amazing trip! It was really really really cool because... well, I'll just let you find out as the trip progressed. Suffice to say, there was no way I was going to miss this trip if I had anything to say about it.

Jump to a Section:
Visitor's Center | Side of the Road | The Flip Side

     

Section 2:
By the Side of the Road

Now here's where it starts getting interesting. We were told to pull around and park on the side of the road next to the bridge. It certainly made for some interesting views..

Yes, unfortunately the bridge is no longer the largest in the world.  However, it is still the longest in the Western Hemisphere.  And it's no longer the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, but it's sill the second tallest (after the rather impressive Millau Viaduct).  It is also the second tallest overall bridge in the United States after the Royal Gorge Bridge (a suspension pedestrian bridge in Colorado).

But this bridge is (at least to me... but remember, I'm a tad weird) still quite awesome.
Well, we all know rules were meant to be broken... however, technically we won't break this one...

You'll see.

Interesting fact: the bridge (in total) is over 3,030 feet long (of which 1,700 feet is unsupported). Just look at it stretching out into infinity...
Now this picture I took because of the shadow lines. However, it also gives a sense of the aspect ratio of the bridge. Plus, if one thinks about the general progression of the last few shots, one might be able to infer our final destination. Not for the queasy.

Visitor's Center | Side of the Road | The Flip Side


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