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.

Total bridges

49

Public highway bridges in Calhoun County

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

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.

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

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Calhoun County and the 5 West Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Mineral County 63 7.9%
Brooke County 57 17.5%
Morgan County 55 25.5%
Calhoun County (this page) 49 26.5%
Jefferson County 45 0%
Wirt County 42 21.4%

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).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1970 here).

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

All 49 Good 19 Fair 17 Poor 13

Poor-condition bridges (13)

COUNTY ROUTE 1/1

Poor

Over: STRAIGHT CREEK

0.10 MI W OF CR 1, Calhoun, WV

Built 1926 Load: 2.7 t ADT: 350

COUNTY ROUTE 7

Poor

Over: STEER CREEK

0.51 MILE EAST OF CR 7/5, Calhoun, WV

Built 1930 Load: 2.7 t ADT: 250

CO RT 11

Poor

Over: NICUT RUN

0.16 MI CR 11/16, Calhoun, WV

Built 1926 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 150

CR 11

Poor

Over: L FK WEST FK L KANAWHA R

0.39 MI E CR 11/5, Calhoun, WV

Built 1926 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 150

WV 16

Poor

Over: WEST FK LITTLE KANAWHA R

0.06 MI N CR 16/28, Calhoun, WV

Built 1932 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 1,100

WV 16

Poor

Over: WEST FORK LITTLE KAN R

0.27 MI N OF CR 17, Calhoun, WV

Built 1930 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 900

WEST VIRGINIA 16

Poor

Over: WALNUT RUN

0.04 MI S OF CR 26 (SLS), Calhoun, WV

Built 1929 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 900

WV 16

Poor

Over: MILLSTONE CREEK

0.07 MI S US 33, Calhoun, WV

Built 1932 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 1,500

COUNTY ROUTE 18

Poor

Over: DANIELS RUN

0.01 M SOUTH OF CR 18/4, Calhoun, WV

Built 1934 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 200

COUNTY ROUTE 16/10

Poor

Over: PHILIP RUN

0.01 MILE NORTH OF WV 16, Calhoun, WV

Built 1987 Load: 29.9 t ADT: 10

WV 16 (F)

Poor

Over: WEST FK LITTLE KANAWHA R

0.03 MI S OF CR 11, Calhoun, WV

Built 1932 Load: 31.7 t ADT: 1,100

WEST VIRGINIA 16

Poor

Over: CRUMMIS CREEK

0.05 MI SOUTH OF CR 16/25, Calhoun, WV

Built 1997 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 1,400

US 33

Poor

Over: WEST FK LITTLE KANAWHA R

0.07 MI W CR 18, Calhoun, WV

Built 1964 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 1,900

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.