river formed by the junction of North and South forks in Ashe county, northwestern North Carolina, U.S. It flows north across Virginia into West Virginia and joins the Gauley River, there dammed for hydropower, after a course of 255 miles (410 km), to form the Kanawha River in south-central West Virginia. Near Radford, Virginia, the New River is dammed to form Claytor Lake (hydroelectricity), and near Hinton, West Virginia, the Bluestone Dam impounds a large flood-control reservoir. The 1,700-foot (518-metre) steel arch span of the New River Gorge Bridge, completed in 1977 near Fayetteville, West Virginia, is one of the world's longest.