County profile · official public datasets

Berkeley County, WV

119 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28.6% rated Good, 66.4% Fair, 5% Poor.

119
Public bridges: 28.6%
Good condition: 5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Berkeley County pairs a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 4%
lowest Poor share in state: 5%
Poor-condition share: 119
public highway bridges: 1986
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.

Berkeley County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Berkeley County ranks #2 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5%). Berkeley County, West Virginia contains 119 public highway bridges. Roughly 28.6% are rated “Good,” 66.4% “Fair,” and 5% “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

119

Public highway bridges in Berkeley County

Good condition

28.6%

34 of 119 rated 7-9

Fair condition

66.4%

79 of 119 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6 of 119 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#2 of 55

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

Condition distribution

Share of 119 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

28.6% (34)

Fair

66.4% (79)

Poor

5% (6)

Berkeley County's Poor-condition bridges carry 23,930 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,988 crossings a day against 10,271 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 119 of 119 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

31.1% of Berkeley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

37 of the 119 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 28.6% 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 69% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

WV 09 (F) over TULISSUS BRANCH, built 1922, carries 16,500 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 23,930 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1920s

4
1930s

5
1950s

8
1960s

15
1970s

11
1980s

6
1990s

21
2000s

22
2010s

21
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 22 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1986, 6 years newer than the West Virginia average of 1980.

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

The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Berkeley County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Berkeley County and the 5 West Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Ritchie County	127	33.9%	39.4%	26.8%	1967
Berkeley County (this page)	119	28.6%	66.4%	5%	1986
Lincoln County	118	31.4%	50.8%	17.8%	1989
Pocahontas County	118	23.7%	55.9%	20.3%	1982
Ohio County	115	17.4%	55.7%	27%	1967
Pendleton County	114	16.7%	62.3%	21.1%	1985

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 Berkeley 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 Berkeley County, both outside West Virginia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WV (119 bridges here).

Carroll County, AR · 119 bridges
Grant County, AR · 119 bridges
Stafford County, KS · 119 bridges
Grayson County, KY · 119 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1986 here).

El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges

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

All 119 Good 34 Fair 79 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (79)

Sort:

Berkeley County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Berkeley County's Poor-condition bridges carry 23,930 vehicle crossings a day

31.1% of Berkeley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 69% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Berkeley 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

Fair-condition bridges (79)

COUNTY ROAD 01 SLS

CR 02 SLS

CR 07 SLS

CR 13/1 SLS

US 11 SLS

EAST JOHN STREET

WV 09 X

CR 15 SLS

WV 901 F

CR 07 SLS

WV 09 F

CR 25 SLS

CR 51/2 SLS

CR 13 SLS

WV 09 X

I-81 (X)

I-81 (X)

CR 9/30 SLS

I81

C.R.01 (SLS)

US 11 (F)

WV 09 X

I 81 X & EXIT RAMP

I 81 X

I-81 X

INTERSTATE 81 X

I 81

CR 3/2 (SLS)

WV 09 X EB

WV 09 X WB

CR 32 SLS

CR 07 (SLS)

CR 11/81 SLS

CR 6/1 SLS

CR 9/56

I81

I 81

CR 26 (SLS)

WV 45 F

CR 26 SLS

CR. 24/1 SLS

CR 05 SLS

WV 09 F

I 81 (X)

CR 3/2 SLS

WV.09 T.

CR 9/13 SLS

US 11 SLS

WV 45 SLS

WV 09 T

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