Total bridges
148
Public highway bridges in Braxton County
County profile · official public datasets
Braxton County, WV
148 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 16.9% rated Good, 73.6% Fair, 9.5% Poor.
- 148
- Public bridges
- 16.9%
- Good condition
- 9.5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Braxton County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 13%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 9.5%
- Poor-condition share
- 148
- public highway bridges
- 1978
- 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.
Braxton County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Braxton County ranks #7 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.5%). Braxton County, West Virginia contains 148 public highway bridges. Roughly 16.9% are rated “Good,” 73.6% “Fair,” and 9.5% “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.
Good condition
16.9%
25 of 148 rated 7-9
Fair condition
73.6%
109 of 148 rated 5-6
Poor condition
9.5%
14 of 148 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#7 of 55
Among West Virginia counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 148 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 16.9% (25)
Fair 73.6% (109)
Poor 9.5% (14)
Braxton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,050 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 312 crossings a day against 903 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 147 of 148 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
48.6% of Braxton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
72 of the 148 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 16.9% 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 46.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
WV ROUTE 4 F over ELK RIVER, built 1935, carries 1,900 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 4,050 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Braxton County's bridges were built
148 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1920s 4
1920–1929
4 bridges
- 1930s 11
1930–1939
11 bridges
- 1940s 5
1940–1949
5 bridges
- 1950s 6
1950–1959
6 bridges
- 1960s 10
1960–1969
10 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
42 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
18 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
27 bridges
- 2000s 13
2000–2009
13 bridges
- 2010s 5
2010–2019
5 bridges
- 2020s 6
2020–2029
6 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 42 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the West Virginia average (1980).
How Braxton County compares with West Virginia's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Braxton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.5% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 54 West Virginia counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wayne County | 163 | 20.9% | 60.7% | 18.4% | 1982 |
| Wyoming County | 160 | 3.1% | 63.8% | 33.1% | 1985 |
| Lewis County | 159 | 21.4% | 65.4% | 13.2% | 1966 |
| Braxton County (this page) | 148 | 16.9% | 73.6% | 9.5% | 1978 |
| Mason County | 137 | 32.8% | 51.1% | 16.1% | 1989 |
| Putnam County | 135 | 32.6% | 51.9% | 15.6% | 1987 |
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 Braxton 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 Braxton County, both outside West Virginia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside WV (148 bridges here).
- Claiborne County, LA · 148 bridges
- Ravalli County, MT · 148 bridges
- Nance County, NE · 148 bridges
- Cayuga County, NY · 148 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1978 here).
- Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
- Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
- Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
- Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (109)
COUNTY ROUTE 1
FairOver: POSEY RUN
0.01 MI W CO 1/2, Braxton, WV
Built 1991 Load: 63.5 t ADT: 300
COUNTY ROUTE 19/26
FairOver: PERKINS FORK OF CEDAR CR
0.05 MI S OF CO 5/6, Braxton, WV
Built 1998 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 300
COUNTY ROUTE 7 SLS
FairOver: BRUSHY FORK
0.03 MI N CO RT 20 SLS, Braxton, WV
Built 1994 Load: 68.0 t ADT: 1,000
COUNTY ROUTE 10/4
FairOver: CEDAR CREEK
0.01 MI S CO 10, Braxton, WV
Built 1995 Load: 71.7 t ADT: 226
WV 4
FairOver: GRANNY CREEK
0.11 MI S OF CO 19/40, Braxton, WV
Built 1998 Load: 76.2 t ADT: 8,318
COUNTY ROUTE 5/4
FairOver: SLABCAMP RUN
0.40 MI E OF CO 19/26, Braxton, WV
Built 1995 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 50
I-79
FairOver: Co 11/10
0.55 MI S CO 11, Braxton, WV
Built 1972 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 11,100
I79 X
FairOver: CR 4/22
0.55 MI S OF CO 19/22, Braxton, WV
Built 1972 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 9,700
I79 X
FairOver: CR 4/22
0.55 MI S OF CO 19/22, Braxton, WV
Built 1972 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 9,700
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.