County profile · official public datasets

Kanawha County, WV

554 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 20.6% rated Good, 67% Fair, 12.5% Poor.

554
Public bridges: 20.6%
Good condition: 12.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Kanawha County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.

Top 18%
lowest Poor share in state: 12.5%
Poor-condition share: 554
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Kanawha County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Kanawha County ranks #10 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.5%). Kanawha County, West Virginia contains 554 public highway bridges. Roughly 20.6% are rated “Good,” 67% “Fair,” and 12.5% “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

554

Public highway bridges in Kanawha County

Good condition

20.6%

114 of 554 rated 7-9

Fair condition

67%

371 of 554 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.5%

69 of 554 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#10 of 55

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

Condition distribution

Share of 554 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

20.6% (114)

Fair

67% (371)

Poor

12.5% (69)

Kanawha County's Poor-condition bridges carry 295,534 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,283 crossings a day against 3,221 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 554 of 554 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

30.3% of Kanawha County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

168 of the 554 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 20.6% 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 16.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-77 NB & SB over US 60, built 1975, carries 47,700 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 69-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 295,534 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

7
1930s

14
1940s

19
1950s

35
1960s

36
1970s

157
1980s

96
1990s

83
2000s

43
2010s

48
2020s

15

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 157 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the West Virginia average (1980).

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

The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Kanawha County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.5% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1981 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 Kanawha County and the 5 West Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Kanawha County (this page)	554	20.6%	67%	12.5%	1982
Harrison County	256	32%	43%	25%	1969
Logan County	236	23.7%	52.5%	23.7%	1989
McDowell County	225	4%	64.4%	31.6%	1981
Raleigh County	224	4.9%	70.5%	24.6%	1983
Fayette County	211	19%	67.8%	13.3%	1982

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WV (554 bridges here).

Buncombe County, NC · 555 bridges
Pottawattamie County, IA · 557 bridges
Yakima County, WA · 558 bridges
Larimer County, CO · 559 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 554 Good 114 Fair 371 Poor 69

Good-condition bridges (114)

Sort:

Kanawha County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Kanawha County's Poor-condition bridges carry 295,534 vehicle crossings a day

30.3% of Kanawha County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 16.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Kanawha 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 (114)

CR 64/2

COUNTY ROUTE 77/5

COUNTY ROUTE 77/4

WV 114

COUNTY ROUTE 9

CR 20

COUNTY ROUTE 77/1

CR 9 COAL RIVER RD

CR 23

CR 58

CR 15 SLS

CR 6/6

CR 23

CR 20

CR 20/5

CR 43/18

CR 50

CR 73/1

CR 43/6

CR 46

CR 63/1

COUNTY RTE. 26 SLS

CR 81/14

CR 83

CR 81

CR 03/03

CR 70

CR 73/13

HARP RT 901/43

WV 214

COUNTY ROUTE 39

CR 73

COUNTY ROUTE 79/3

COUNTY RT. 622/15

CR 63/1

CR 20

CR 79/9 DRY BR. RD

COUNTY ROUTE 79/3

CR 33

CR 50

CR 43

CR 11

CR 11

COUNTY ROUTE 18

CR 73

CR 22

CR 57

CR 9

COUNTY ROUTE 52

CR 81

Related