County profile · official public datasets

Barbour County, WV

93 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 12.9% rated Good, 72% Fair, 15.1% Poor.

93
Public bridges: 12.9%
Good condition: 15.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.

Barbour County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 36%
lowest Poor share in state: 15.1%
Poor-condition share: 93
public highway bridges: 1957
avg year built

Poor is an FHWA condition category from the lowest applicable component rating (4 or below), not a live crossing-safety or closure decision. Rankings cover counties with at least five public highway bridges.

Barbour County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Barbour County ranks #20 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.1%). Barbour County, West Virginia contains 93 public highway bridges. Roughly 12.9% are rated “Good,” 72% “Fair,” and 15.1% “Poor.” Poor means the lowest applicable deck, superstructure, substructure, or culvert rating is 4 or below on the 0–9 NBI scale. It is a condition category, not a live safety or closure decision.

Responsible agencies inspect covered bridges on risk-based intervals under current NBIS rules and submit inventory data to FHWA annually. The list below shows every NBI-tracked bridge in the county. Use the “Sort by” controls to change the ordering, and click any row for its reported inspection date, traffic count, and condition fields.

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory. See methodology for full definitions.

Total bridges

Public highway bridges in Barbour County

Good condition

12.9%

12 of 93 rated 7-9

Fair condition

72%

67 of 93 rated 5-6

Poor condition

15.1%

14 of 93 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#20 of 55

Among West Virginia counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 93 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

12.9% (12)

Fair

72% (67)

Poor

15.1% (14)

Barbour County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,390 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 314 crossings a day against 237 for a Good-condition one. A Poor rating is a condition category, not a closure or a live safety judgement; it means the lowest applicable component rating is 4 or below.

Computed over the 93 of 93 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

58.1% of Barbour County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

54 of the 93 bridges with a recorded construction year were built in 1974 or earlier. Age alone is not a defect: a well-maintained older bridge can rate Good, and 12.9% of this county's inventory does. Even so, this older cohort is the population from which future Poor ratings are drawn, which is why the age profile below matters alongside the condition split above.

Cutoff derives from the 2024 release year minus a 50-year design life. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

One structure carries 52.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 119 over A&O RAILROAD, built 1937, carries 2,300 vehicles a day, the most of any Poor-rated structure here. The county's Poor-condition exposure is concentrated rather than evenly spread, so the 14-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,390 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

3
1900s

1
1910s

22
1920s

3
1930s

9
1940s

5
1950s

4
1960s

4
1970s

5
1980s

6
1990s

16
2000s

8
2010s

5
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1910s, when 22 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 105 to 114 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1957, 23 years older than the West Virginia average of 1980.

How Barbour County compares with West Virginia's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Barbour County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.1% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1957 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 21 years older.

Showing the 5 closest of 54 West Virginia counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Barbour County and the 5 West Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Doddridge County	99	38.4%	37.4%	24.2%	1974
Upshur County	99	21.2%	66.7%	12.1%	1971
Grant County	97	21.6%	64.9%	13.4%	1980
Nicholas County	97	25.8%	59.8%	14.4%	1986
Barbour County (this page)	93	12.9%	72%	15.1%	1957
Hampshire County	92	23.9%	65.2%	10.9%	1978

Each share is of that county's own total tracked bridges; peers are the counties with 5 or more bridges whose inventory size is closest to Barbour County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Two NBI-derived peer sets for Barbour County, both outside West Virginia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WV (93 bridges here).

Baker County, FL · 93 bridges
Banks County, GA · 93 bridges
Haralson County, GA · 93 bridges
Alexander County, IL · 93 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1957 here).

Essex County, MA · avg 1957 · 395 bridges
Labette County, KS · avg 1957 · 349 bridges
Greenwood County, KS · avg 1957 · 235 bridges
Greer County, OK · avg 1957 · 230 bridges

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.

All 93 Good 12 Fair 67 Poor 14

All bridges (93)

Sort:

Barbour County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Barbour County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,390 vehicle crossings a day

58.1% of Barbour County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 52.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Barbour County compares with West Virginia's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

All bridges (93)

WV 92

CO RT 26 SLS

COUNTY ROUTE 1/1

CO 92/17

COUNTY ROUTE 11/3

COUNTY ROUTE 11

COUNTY ROUTE 119/2

CO 11/2

WV 38 F

COUNTY ROUTE 40/1

COUNTY ROUTE 40

WV38F

COUNTY ROUTE 57/1

US ROUTE 250 T

WV ROUTE 38 F

COUNTY ROUTE 40/4

COUNTY ROUTE 16/4

COUNTY ROUTE 9

COUNTY ROUTE 9

COUNTY ROUTE 56

COUNTY RTE 10 SLS

92/18

COUNTY ROUTE 12

COUNTY ROUTE 26

COUNTY ROUTE 46/1

COUNTY ROUTE 40/5

COUNTY ROUTE 57/6

WV 38

County Route 10

COUNTY ROUTE 57/15

COUNTY ROUTE 92/12

CO ROUTE 7 SLS

COUNTY ROUTE 26

COUNTY ROUTE 13/4

COUNTY ROUTE 5/3

COUNTY ROUTE 13/1

COUNTY ROUTE 15

COUNTY ROUTE 21

US 119

COUNTY ROUTE 57/7

COUNTY ROUTE 3

COUNTY ROUTE 11

CO ROUTE 24 SLS

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