Major West Virginia highway closed Saturday for Bridge Day

FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. (WBOY) — The New River Gorge Bridge on U.S. Highway 19 in West Virginia will be closed for most of the day on Oct. 19.

Bridge Day is the largest one-day festival in West Virginia. During the festival, people can BASE jump, repel and zipline off the bridge, and it is also the only day of the year that people are allowed to walk across the bridge because it is completely closed to driving traffic.

Commercial traffic will be rerouted around the bridge starting at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, and the alternate route is a long way around. Instead of taking U.S. 19 between Beckley and Sutton, commercial drivers will have to detour on Interstate 64 and Interstate 79 by going through Charleston (green route on map below); that trip is about 40 minutes longer and has tolls if you don’t have a West Virginia Turnpike pass.

For local traffic, W.Va. Route 16 and U.S. Route 60 is a detour option through Ansted (yellow route on map below); that route is about 25 minutes longer.

The travel advisories will last from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 19, 2024.

For people participating in Bridge Day, there will be shuttles that will take you to the bridge from designated parking places in Fayetteville and Lansing.

More information about the festival schedule, transportation and activities is available online here .

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