Fayette County, WV (WOAY) – The West Virginia Department of Transportation is scheduled to begin work at 8 a.m. Monday, January27, 2025 on the historic Tunney Hunsaker Bridge on County Route 82, Fayette Station Road.Â
The bridge deck replacement work was originally scheduled to start on January 6 but was delayed by inclement weather.
 The Tunney Hunsaker Bridge was Built in 1889 and was the first bridge across the New River in the New River Gorge connecting the mining towns of Fayette and South Fayette.
In 1977 when the New River Gorge Bridge opened, high above the gorge, the modest span at the bottom of the gorge was closed to vehicular traffic. The increase in tourism brought about by the larger bridge led to the small span being rebuilt in 1997 and reopened to traffic.
In 1998, the bridge was renamed in honor of longtime Fayetteville police chief and a former professional boxer Tunney Hunsaker, who was matched up against Muhammad Ali in Ali’s first professional boxing match.
After the bout Ali and Hunsaker remained friends over the years, and Ali came to Fayetteville in 1997 for Hunsaker’s retirement celebration.
Work on the bridge is expected to run through Friday, March 28, 2025.
