County profile · official public datasets

Gilmer County, WV

106 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 16% rated Good, 69.8% Fair, 14.2% Poor.

106
Public bridges: 16%
Good condition: 14.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Gilmer County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 29%
lowest Poor share in state: 14.2%
Poor-condition share: 106
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Gilmer County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Gilmer County ranks #16 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 14.2%). Gilmer County, West Virginia contains 106 public highway bridges. Roughly 16% are rated “Good,” 69.8% “Fair,” and 14.2% “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

106

Public highway bridges in Gilmer County

Good condition

16%

17 of 106 rated 7-9

Fair condition

69.8%

74 of 106 rated 5-6

Poor condition

14.2%

15 of 106 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#16 of 55

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

Condition distribution

Share of 106 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

16% (17)

Fair

69.8% (74)

Poor

14.2% (15)

Gilmer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,310 vehicle crossings a day

That is 13.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 14.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 621 crossings a day against 304 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 106 of 106 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

37.7% of Gilmer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

40 of the 106 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% 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 66.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 33 over LITTLE KANAWHA RIVER, built 1929, carries 6,200 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,310 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1910s

1
1920s

10
1930s

4
1940s

4
1950s

10
1960s

5
1970s

14
1980s

16
1990s

21
2000s

15
2010s

4
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 21 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1975, 5 years older than the West Virginia average of 1980.

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

The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Gilmer County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 14.2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Gilmer County and the 5 West Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Ohio County	115	17.4%	55.7%	27%	1967
Pendleton County	114	16.7%	62.3%	21.1%	1985
Wetzel County	107	39.3%	34.6%	26.2%	1975
Gilmer County (this page)	106	16%	69.8%	14.2%	1975
Doddridge County	99	38.4%	37.4%	24.2%	1974
Upshur County	99	21.2%	66.7%	12.1%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WV (106 bridges here).

Ashley County, AR · 106 bridges
Baca County, CO · 106 bridges
Warren County, KY · 106 bridges
Lincoln County, MN · 106 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 106 Good 17 Fair 74 Poor 15

Fair-condition bridges (74)

Sort:

Gilmer County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Gilmer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,310 vehicle crossings a day

37.7% of Gilmer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 66.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Gilmer 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

Fair-condition bridges (74)

COUNTY ROUTE 19/7

COUNTY ROUTE 12

COUNTY ROUTE 9/6

COUNTY ROUTE 12/7

WV ROUTE 5

COUNTY ROUTE 42

COUNTY ROUTE 7

COUNTY ROUTE 40/7

COUNTY ROUTE 1

COUNTY ROUTE 28

COUNTY ROUTE 52/4

COUNTY ROUTE 1

WV 5

WV 5

WV 18

WV 18

US 33

US 33

US 33

COUNTY ROUTE 1

COUNTY ROUTE 23

COUNTY ROUTE 40

COUNTY ROUTE 11

WV 47

COUNTY ROUTE 12

I-79

I-79 S

COUNTY ROUTE 8

COUNTY ROUTE 3 SLS

COUNTY ROUTE 23/3

COUNTY ROUTE 30

COUNTY ROUTE 40

COUNTY ROUTE 47/6

WV47

COUNTY ROUTE 13

WV ROUTE 5

COUNTY ROUTE 40/1

COUNTY ROUTE 17/4

COUNTY ROUTE 7

COUNTY ROUTE 1

WV 47 SLS

COUNTY RT 36/2 SLS

COUNTY ROUTE 19/3

COUNTY ROUTE 2

COUNTY ROUTE 20

COUNTY ROUTE 40

WV 5

US 33

COUNTY ROUTE 19

COUNTY ROUTE 17

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