Tunney Hunsaker Bridge
(Fayette Station Bridge)
NBI Information
Location
State: West Virginia
County: Fayette County
Feature Carried: CR-82
Feature Crossed: New River
Latitude, Longitude: 38.0648,-81.0771
Toll: On free road
Maintenance Responsibility: State Highway Agency
Structure Open, Posted, or Closed to Traffic: Posted for load (may include other restrictions such as temporary bridges which are load posted)
History
Year Built: 1997
Historical Significance: Bridge is not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
Year Reconstructed: None
Picture Date: April 27, 2026
Geometry
Lanes on Structure: 1
Lanes under Structure: 0
Skew: 0 degrees
Number of Main Spans: 1
Main Structure Type: Truss - Thru
Main Structure Material: Steel
Number of Approach Spans: 2
Approach Structure Type: Truss - Thru
Approach Structure Material: Steel
Condition
Inspection Date: July 2024
Deck Condition: Fair
Superstructure Condition: Good
Substructure Condition: Good
Channel Condition: Very Good
Culvert: Not Applicable
NBI Year: 2025
Bridge Information
The Tunney Hunsaker Bridge, originally named the Fayette Station Bridge, was built in 1889. It has one Pennsylvania through truss span and one Pratt pony truss span.
This bridge is at the bottom of the New River Gorge and has a long series of switchbacks to get down to it. It typically took 40 minutes to cross the gorge. The New River Gorge Bridge opened in 1977. This high level bridge crossed the top of the gorge and cut that trip down to under a minute, making the old bridge inconvenient and unnecessary bridge. It was closed to traffic and abandoned.
The bridge was rehabilitated in 1997 and reopened for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Due to the deterioration of the bridge, this rehabilitation project replaced nearly every piece of the bridge with new materials. However, a few pieces were saved and reused, and the new materials replicate the original design of the bridge. The notable exception is that the new construction used bolts instead of rivets, and the sidewalks were added on the outside of the truss.
The bridge was officially renamed the Tunney Hunsaker Bridge in 1998 to honor Tunney Hunsaker, an American boxer and former chief-of-police in nearby Fayetteville, WV.
References
Holth, Nathan. “Fayette Station Bridge.” Historic Bridges, 5 June 2014, https://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=wvirginia/fayettestationbridge/. Accessed 29 July 2026.
Ebert, Karen. “Fayette Station Bridge.” Historic American Engineering Record, https://historicbridges.org/wvirginia/fayettestationbridge/wv0432data.pdf. Accessed 29 July 2026.
“In the Shadow of the New River Gorge Bridge: The Tunney Hunsaker Bridge.” Bridge Day, 29 May 2012, https://officialbridgeday.com/bridge-blog/in-the-shadow-of-the-new-river-gorge-bridge-the-tunney-hunsaker-bridge. Accessed 29 July 2026.
