New River Gorge Bridge v1.0
Located near Fayetteville, WV, the New River Gorge Bridge was the longest and highest single-span arch bridge in the world when it opened in 1977. While those records have since been surpassed, the majesty of this iconic structure makes Mountaineer hearts beat with pride. An international BASE jumping Mecca of sorts, the bridge is closed to vehicles the third Saturday of October each year for Bridge Day, when daredevils plummet to the New River 870 feet below.
West Virginia born and raised, this had to be the first piece of scenery I attempted for Flight Simulator. I created the bridge model by hand using SketchUp and Blender. Eventually I’d like to remove the “road” pasted on the hillside (caused by artifacts of the satellite imagery). You can fly under the bridge, but you have to go very low (below the lowest support buttresses on the hillsides) or the sim will still think you hit something.