(Fayetteville)….It took several months and a pile of paperwork but the new River Gorge Bridge is now on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s all part of the state Sesquicentennial celebration.
Erin Riebe, the NRHP coordinator for the Division of Culture and History, says it’s been her dream project for more than decade to make the designation a reality. But it was the state’s 150th birthday that really got the ball rolling.
“We prepared the nomination to show that it has not only engineering significance at the national level but also transportation significance for its roll in connecting Corridor L communities,” explains Riebe.
She started working on the paperwork in March and presented it to the state Archives and History Commission in May. Then the document went on the the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places for final approval which it received on August 19th.
“Generally when someone asks me how long it takes to list something in the national register, I tell them about a year, if they work quickly. So this was on the fast track because we wanted to have it listed by the end of summer.”