Another stop on my vacation was the New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia, the newest park in the system. There are 53 miles of the New River and 7,000 acres of forest that comprise the park, but the centerpiece (for me) was the New River Gorge bridge.
It’s hard to overstate what a difference this bridge made for the surrounding communities, turning a 40-minute trip along winding, narrow mountain roads into a one-minute ride along a highway. The bridge is 876 feet above the New River, spanning over 3000 feet across the gorge. It is a civil engineering and architectural marvel.
Benefitting from the bridge today, it’s easy to forget the challenges that went into building it. When it opened in 1977, it cost $37 million (equivalent to $1.9 billion today!) and took three years of dangerous work to complete. I’m sure many questioned the expenditure and effort.
Metaphorical bridges also require sacrifices and investments that may not seem worth it at the time but that pay dividends for years. There may be ways for you to progress without building relationship bridges or bridging differences with a compromise but such actions take you on a circuitous path like the mountain roads once did for travelers.
Yes, building any kind of bridge involves effort, but it’s almost always worth it. Put in the time and commitment to make your bridges as beautiful as the New River Gorge and reap the benefits for decades.
