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

5%

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.

When Berkeley County's bridges were built

119 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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 Poor
Ritchie County 127 26.8%
Berkeley County (this page) 119 5%
Lincoln County 118 17.8%
Pocahontas County 118 20.3%
Ohio County 115 27%
Pendleton County 114 21.1%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

All bridges (119)

I 81 X

Good

Over: CR 51/5 and Mill Creek

1.72 MI S OF WV 51 SLS, Berkeley, WV

Built 1965 Load: 44.4 t ADT: 23,450

I81 X

Good

Over: WV 45 (T)

1.47 MI S OF CR 15 SLS, Berkeley, WV

Built 2005 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 29,300

I81 X

Good

Over: WV 45

1.47 MI S OF CR 15 SLS, Berkeley, WV

Built 2005 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 29,300

WV 51 F

Good

Over: OPEQUON CREEK

0.91 MI EOF CR 51/9 SLS, Berkeley, WV

Built 2023 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 7,600

CR 9/56

Good

Over: Winchester & Western RR

0.37 Miles S. of CR 10/1, Berkeley, WV

Built 2012 Load: 48.1 t ADT: 7,800

CR 9/56

Good

Over: Winchester & Western RR

0.11 miles n. of CR 10/1, Berkeley, WV

Built 2012 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 7,800

WV 09 (X) WB

Good

Over: CR 9/19 (SLS)

0.24 MI E OF CR 9/19 SLS, Berkeley, WV

Built 2010 Load: 51.7 t ADT: 9,650

CR 9/56 SLS

Good

Over: Tuscarora Ck & CSX R/R

0.24 Miles S. of CR 10/1, Berkeley, WV

Built 2012 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 7,800

WV 09 X EB

Good

Over: CR 9/19 (SLS)

0.24 MI E OF CR 9/19 SLS, Berkeley, WV

Built 2010 Load: 53.5 t ADT: 9,650

CR 9/4 SLS

Good

Over: TILHANCE CREEK

0.69 MI W OF WV 9 F, Berkeley, WV

Built 1993 Load: 56.2 t ADT: 400

CR 9/4 SLS

Good

Over: TILHANCE CREEK

0.01 MI W OF CR 9/6 SLS, Berkeley, WV

Built 1996 Load: 66.2 t ADT: 400

CR 9/17 SLS

Good

Over: SPA RUN

1.30 MI SOUTH OF WV 9 X, Berkeley, WV

Built 1974 Load: 70.7 t ADT: 300

CR 15 SLS

Good

Over: Tuscarora Creek

0.06 mi east of CR 16 SLS, Berkeley, WV

Built 1958 Load: 72.6 t ADT: 4,600

CR 07 SLS

Poor

Over: ELK BRANCH

0.01 MI S OF CR 7/12 SLS, Berkeley, WV

Built 1976 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 750

CR 24/3 SLS

Poor

Over: MILL CREEK

0.34 MI W OF CR 51/5, Berkeley, WV

Built 1926 Load: 19.0 t ADT: 80

OLD MILL ROAD

Poor

Over: TUSCARORA CREEK

0.02 MI S OF WHITACRE LAN, Berkeley, WV

Built 1950 Load: 19.0 t ADT: 3,000

CR 23 SLS

Poor

Over: TILLHANCE CREEK

0.14 MI E OF CR 9/25 SLS, Berkeley, WV

Built 1936 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 600

WV 09 (F)

Poor

Over: TULISSUS BRANCH

0.30 MI W OF CR 04 SLS, Berkeley, WV

Built 1922 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 16,500

CR 26 SLS

Poor

Over: MILL CREEK

0.27 MI. E. OF CR 51/6, Berkeley, WV

Built 1987 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 3,000

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges

Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.