New River Bridge, West Virginia, 1999

"Spanning a West Virginia canyon 3,000 feet [914 meters] wide, the New River Gorge Bridge transformed 44,000 tons of steel and concrete into structural art as graceful as the morning mists drifting below it. Opened in 1977, it replaced an 1889 trestle—and 40 white-knuckled minutes on one-lane switchbacks—with 40 seconds on cruise control."

—From “New River’s Deep Soul,” June 1999, National Geographic magazine