River, southwestern Virginia and southern West Virginia, U.S. It is formed in North Carolina and flows north across Virginia into West Virginia where it joins the Gauley River to form the Kanawha River .
It is about 320 mi (515 km) long and is spanned by the longest steel-arch bridge in the world, the New River Gorge bridge near Fayetteville, W.Va., whose main span is 1,700 ft (518 m).