County profile · official public datasets

Jackson County, WV

191 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.2% rated Good, 38.2% Fair, 23.6% Poor.

191
Public bridges: 38.2%
Good condition: 23.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Jackson 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.

39th
of 55 on Poor share: 23.6%
Poor-condition share: 191
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Jackson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jackson County ranks #39 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 23.6%). Jackson County, West Virginia contains 191 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.2% are rated “Good,” 38.2% “Fair,” and 23.6% “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

191

Public highway bridges in Jackson County

Good condition

38.2%

73 of 191 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.2%

73 of 191 rated 5-6

Poor condition

23.6%

45 of 191 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#39 of 55

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

Condition distribution

Share of 191 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.2% (73)

Fair

38.2% (73)

Poor

23.6% (45)

Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 70,065 vehicle crossings a day

That is 12.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 23.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,557 crossings a day against 1,733 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 191 of 191 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.8% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

97 of the 191 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 38.2% 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 13.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-77 NBL over SANDY CREEK, built 1967, carries 9,750 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 45-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 70,065 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1910s

1
1920s

16
1930s

5
1940s

4
1950s

25
1960s

43
1970s

13
1980s

21
1990s

31
2000s

19
2010s

9
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1973, 7 years older than the West Virginia average of 1980.

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

The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Jackson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 23.6% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jackson County and the 5 West Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Monongalia County	203	36.9%	42.9%	20.2%	1980
Marion County	193	48.2%	30.6%	21.2%	1977
Jackson County (this page)	191	38.2%	38.2%	23.6%	1973
Randolph County	190	30.5%	54.2%	15.3%	1989
Preston County	182	35.2%	41.8%	23.1%	1971
Wood County	180	42.2%	35.6%	22.2%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WV (191 bridges here).

Jay County, IN · 191 bridges
Ripley County, IN · 191 bridges
Atchison County, MO · 191 bridges
Pawnee County, NE · 191 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 191 Good 73 Fair 73 Poor 45

Good-condition bridges (73)

Sort:

Jackson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 70,065 vehicle crossings a day

50.8% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 13.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jackson 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

Good-condition bridges (73)

COUNTY ROUTE 87/7

COUNTY ROUTE 21/29

COUNTY ROUTE 7

COUNTY ROUTE 5/18

COUNTY ROUTE 6/2

CR 21

C.R. 9

COUNTY ROUTE 6/7

COUNTY ROUTE 28

COUNTY ROUTE 30

C.R. 13

CR 19/1

COUNTY ROUTE 1/5

COUNTY ROUTE 10/4

INTERSTATE 77 SB

US 33

HARP 948

I 77 NORTH

County Route 25/1

WV 2

COUNTY ROAD 33/3

COUNTY ROUTE 15

COUNTY ROUTE 21/22

I-77 NBL

WV 87

COUNTY ROUTE 15/1

County Route 14/1

WV 331

CR. 10/1

COUNTY ROUTE 19/7

COUNTY ROAD 21/22

COUNTY ROUTE 21

I 77 SBL

COUNTY ROUTE 21

COUNTY ROUTE 21/11

COUNTY ROUTE 16/7

COUNTY ROUTE 1/8

COUNTY ROUTE 8

COUNTY ROUTE 13

COUNTY ROUTE 42

COUNTY ROUTE 42

COUNTY ROUTE 21/34

COUNTY ROUTE 15

COUNTY ROUTE 87/19

COUNTY ROUTE 11

COUNTY ROAD 19/8

COUNTY ROUTE 6/7

COUNTY ROUTE 21/30

COUNTY ROUTE 7

COUNTY ROUTE 42

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