County profile · official public datasets

Cabell County, WV

207 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25.1% rated Good, 57.5% Fair, 17.4% Poor.

207
Public bridges: 25.1%
Good condition: 17.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cabell County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 47%
lowest Poor share in state: 17.4%
Poor-condition share: 207
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Cabell County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cabell County ranks #26 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 17.4%). Cabell County, West Virginia contains 207 public highway bridges. Roughly 25.1% are rated “Good,” 57.5% “Fair,” and 17.4% “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

207

Public highway bridges in Cabell County

Good condition

25.1%

52 of 207 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57.5%

119 of 207 rated 5-6

Poor condition

17.4%

36 of 207 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#26 of 55

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

Condition distribution

Share of 207 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

25.1% (52)

Fair

57.5% (119)

Poor

17.4% (36)

Cabell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 247,038 vehicle crossings a day

That is 14.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 17.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,862 crossings a day against 8,004 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 207 of 207 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

32.9% of Cabell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

68 of the 207 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 25.1% 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 13.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I 64 WB over Guyandotte R CR60/52&26, built 1959, carries 33,900 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 36-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 247,038 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

13
1930s

5
1940s

8
1950s

21
1960s

19
1970s

11
1980s

24
1990s

35
2000s

30
2010s

27
2020s

14

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the West Virginia average (1980).

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

The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Cabell County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 17.4% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cabell County and the 5 West Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Fayette County	211	19%	67.8%	13.3%	1982
Greenbrier County	207	22.7%	64.3%	13%	1979
Cabell County (this page)	207	25.1%	57.5%	17.4%	1984
Monongalia County	203	36.9%	42.9%	20.2%	1980
Marion County	193	48.2%	30.6%	21.2%	1977
Jackson County	191	38.2%	38.2%	23.6%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WV (207 bridges here).

Marin County, CA · 207 bridges
Las Animas County, CO · 207 bridges
Shelby County, IA · 207 bridges
Washington County, IA · 207 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 207 Good 52 Fair 119 Poor 36

All bridges (207)

Sort:

Cabell County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cabell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 247,038 vehicle crossings a day

32.9% of Cabell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 13.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cabell 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 (207)

CR 42/17

INTERSTATE 64

INTERSTATE 64 EB

WV 10

INTERSTATE 64 WB

US 60

I 64 EB

I 64 WB

CR 164/10

County Route 25

WV 193 NB

WV 2

WV 527

I64 EB

I64 WB

COUNTY ROUTE 26

INTERSTATE 64 WBL

COUNTY ROUTE 23

CR 26

CR 60/5

WV 2

I 64 EB

I 64 WB

CR 16

US 52

WV 2

US 60

US 60

I 64 EB

I 64 WB

CR 16

COUNTY ROUTE 9

CR 52/8

CR 45

Interstate 64

CR 1/1

I 64 EB

US 52

I-64 EB

I-64 WB

CR 35

CR 25

CR 29/1

CR 43/3

WV 10

US 52

CR 1/11

CR 15

CR 39

I64 EB

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