New River

River flowing through North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia, USA; length 515 km/320 mi. Its South and North forks converge just south of the Virginia border and it flows through the Bluestone Reservoir, past Charleston, and joins the Gauley River to form the Kanawha River, which flows into the Ohio River.

The New River Gorge Bridge (1977) spans the river near Fayetteville; it has the world's longest steel arch span (518 m/1,700 ft).

The South Fork rises near Boone, northwest North Carolina, and flows northeast. Near Weavers Ford it receives the North Fork, which flows east from the Stone Mountains on the Tennessee border. The New River then flows northeast and north across Virginia, through the Allegheny Mountains, and enters West Virginia, where it receives the Greenbrier and Bluestone rivers. A dam (1948) below the confluence with the Bluestone, near Hinton, impounds Bluestone Lake, which extends 58 km/36 mi back upriver into Virginia. Below Hinton, 84 km/52 mi of the river have been designated the New River Gorge National River. The river joins the Gauley to the northwest of the New River Gorge Bridge.