The American Bridge Division of U.S. Steel was awarded the contract for construction of the New River Gorge Bridge. American Bridge had developed a good reputation for bridge building after completing the country's previous longest spanning arch bridge, the Beyon Bridge in New Jersey. However, the New River Gorge Bridge posed many difficulties for American Bridge including the steep sloping sides of the gorge and the extreme height at which the bridge was to be constructed.

    To build the bridge, American Steel decided to build a cableway in order to facilitate the construction of the bridge. Four 300-foot towers were constructed and a helicopter carried a 5000-foot long half-inch cable between the towers. The cable was attached to a one-inch cable, which was then attached to a thicker cable. Cable hoists progressively pulled the stronger cables across the gorge until a three-inch cable was attached. The cable was strong enough and heavy enough to resist much of the sway that could have been generated by high winds and the heavy loads. This “bridge to build a bridge” allowed steel to be easily moved to any point over top of the tremendous gorge.

    The sketches shown below demonstrate the erection and use of the cableway. Step one shows how the helicopter aided in the erection of the cableway, step two shows the cable being pulled tightly across the gorge, and step three demonstrates how the cableway was used in placing the steel members of the bridge. (Baker)

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Sketches provided by Michael Baker, Jr., Inc. with permission

    In order to save time and money, several tasks were worked on simultaneously. While vegetation was being cleared from the gorge's sloping sides, the old mines were being filled with the gravel mix, as discussed earlier in the design page, and large concrete forms were being built. At the same time, the Foster Creighton Company began making the steel members that would form the bridge.

    Each piece of steel was prefabricated with only 1/100-inch tolerance. This would greatly reduce the number of bolts required and lower the overall cost of the project significantly. Reducing the number of bolts lowered the cost of the project. Since a small mistake could create a very large problem during construction over the gorge, most of the bridge was assembled twice, once in the shops and then on the actual construction site. (Blair)

    Transporting the steel to the construction site also proved to be difficult. Since there was no railroad to the gorge, the steel was shipped by railroad to a station nineteen miles away. There, the steel was loaded onto long trailers that carried the material across the rough terrain to the north side of the gorge where it was organized and stored. The photographs below show not only the difficult process of transporting the materials but the terrible climate of the West Virginia mountains which workers suffered through each winter. (Baker)

    In addition to the cableway, American Bridge realized that they needed a way in which they could stabilize the arch as it formed over the gorge. Typically, temporary supporting structures would have been placed below the arch, but due to the enormous depth of the gorge, another method needed to be devised. American Bridge devised a method of supporting the arch as it grew across the gorge. A support cable was tied from the extending arch span back to the stable portion of the bridge. This cable system is often compared with the reel of a fishing rod. The following photograph and animation demonstrate how this method was used.  (Blair, 1991)

Photograph provided by Michael Baker, Jr., Inc. with permission.

Animation created by Rich Koors.

    Much of the bridge was pre-assembled before placing it onto the arch so that the bridge was constructed section by section instead of piece by piece.  This eliminated a lot of unnecessary hazards for the workers.  This was feasible because the cableway trolleys could carry loads of fifty tons each and one-hundred tons working together.  The trolleys were also able to sidestep thirty six feet in order to place the steel in the best position for construction. The trolley carried the steel and set it into place where it was temporarily attached with drift pin bolts.  The workers then permanently bolted the piece in.  Normally during the construction of arch bridges there is some difficulty placing the final piece to complete the arch.  To avoid this the arch was built slightly higher on each side of the span.  Once the last piece was put into position the two sides were lowered to create the snug fit. This can be seen in the photograph below which shows the last steel member being put into place. (Baker)

Photograph provided by the National Parks Service