Total bridges
49
Public highway bridges in Calhoun County
County profile · official public datasets
Calhoun County, WV
49 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.8% rated Good, 34.7% Fair, 26.5% Poor.
- 49
- Public bridges
- 38.8%
- Good condition
- 26.5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Calhoun County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.
- 49th
- of 55 on Poor share
- 26.5%
- Poor-condition share
- 49
- public highway bridges
- 1970
- 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.
Calhoun County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Calhoun County ranks #49 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 26.5%). Calhoun County, West Virginia contains 49 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.8% are rated “Good,” 34.7% “Fair,” and 26.5% “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
38.8%
19 of 49 rated 7-9
Fair condition
34.7%
17 of 49 rated 5-6
Poor condition
26.5%
13 of 49 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#49 of 55
Among West Virginia counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 49 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 38.8% (19)
Fair 34.7% (17)
Poor 26.5% (13)
Calhoun County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,910 vehicle crossings a day
That is 40.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 26.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 762 crossings a day against 352 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 49 of 49 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
53.1% of Calhoun County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
26 of the 49 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 38.8% 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 19.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 33 over WEST FK LITTLE KANAWHA R, built 1964, 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 9,910 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Calhoun County's bridges were built
49 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s
1920–1929
4 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
7 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
5 bridges
- 1950s 3
1950–1959
3 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
6 bridges
- 1970s 3
1970–1979
3 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
4 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
8 bridges
- 2000s 3
2000–2009
3 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
4 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 8 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1970, 10 years older than the West Virginia average of 1980.
How Calhoun County compares with West Virginia's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Calhoun County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 26.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 9 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 54 West Virginia counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mineral County | 63 | 27% | 65.1% | 7.9% | 1972 |
| Brooke County | 57 | 22.8% | 59.6% | 17.5% | 1983 |
| Morgan County | 55 | 18.2% | 56.4% | 25.5% | 1961 |
| Calhoun County (this page) | 49 | 38.8% | 34.7% | 26.5% | 1970 |
| Jefferson County | 45 | 17.8% | 82.2% | 0% | 1994 |
| Wirt County | 42 | 40.5% | 38.1% | 21.4% | 1986 |
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 Calhoun 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 Calhoun County, both outside West Virginia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside WV (49 bridges here).
- Mono County, CA · 49 bridges
- Yuma County, CO · 49 bridges
- Calhoun County, FL · 49 bridges
- Crawford County, GA · 49 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1970 here).
- Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
- Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
- Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
- San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (17)
COUNTY ROUTE 4/8
FairOver: YELLOW CREEK
0.02 M EAST OF CR 4, Calhoun, WV
Built 1963 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 20
COUNTY ROUTE 2
FairOver: COLE RUN
0.01 MILE WEST CR 2/6, Calhoun, WV
Built 1950 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 150
CR. 7/3
FairOver: SYCAMORE CREEK
0.06 MI. S. CR. 16/13, Calhoun, WV
Built 1949 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 30
COUNTY ROUTE 7/3
FairOver: SYCAMORE CREEK
0.34 M SOUTH OF CR 16/15, Calhoun, WV
Built 1949 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 30
COUNTY ROUTE 9
FairOver: DENNIS FORK OF BARNES RN
0.03 M WEST OF CR 9/6, Calhoun, WV
Built 1951 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 100
WEST VIRGINIA 16
FairOver: LITTLE KANAWHA RIVER
0.09 MILE SOUTH OF WV 5, Calhoun, WV
Built 1960 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 1,500
WV 16
FairOver: BRANCH OF YELLOW CREEK
0.02 MI S OF CR 6, Calhoun, WV
Built 1943 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 700
WV 5
FairOver: BIG ROOT RUN
0.02 MI E OF CR 10, Calhoun, WV
Built 1932 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 1,100
WV RT. 5
FairOver: LITTLE KANAWHA RIVER
0.20 MI. E. OF C.R. 35/5, Calhoun, WV
Built 2012 Load: 31.7 t ADT: 800
CO RT 22
FairOver: CABIN RUN
0.19 MI N CR 20, Calhoun, WV
Built 1950 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 150
COUNTY ROUTE 1
FairOver: LEADING CREEK
0.07 MILE SOUTH OF CR 2, Calhoun, WV
Built 1976 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 200
COUNTY ROUTE 24
FairOver: W FK L KANAWHA RIVER
0.05 MILE SOUTH OF US 33, Calhoun, WV
Built 1973 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 550
County Route 5/6
FairOver: Millstone Creek
0.01 Mile East of U.S. 33, Calhoun, WV
Built 2012 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 20
COUNTY ROUTE 16/7
FairOver: ROAD FORK OF LAUREL CRK
0.01 MILE WEST OF CR 16/6, Calhoun, WV
Built 1998 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 350
COUNTY ROUTE 15/2
FairOver: BRANCH OF WHITE OAK RUN
0.05 MILE SOUTH OF CR 15, Calhoun, WV
Built 1962 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 80
WV 16
FairOver: WEST FK LITTLE KANAWHA R
0.04 MI S OF C.R.16/31, Calhoun, WV
Built 1989 Load: 60.8 t ADT: 1,100
WV 5
FairOver: LEAFBANK RUN
0.08 MI E OF CR 35/13, Calhoun, WV
Built 1943 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 1,100
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.