Total bridges
118
Public highway bridges in Lincoln County
County profile · official public datasets
Lincoln County, WV
118 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 31.4% rated Good, 50.8% Fair, 17.8% Poor.
- 118
- Public bridges
- 31.4%
- Good condition
- 17.8%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Lincoln County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
- 29th
- of 55 on Poor share
- 17.8%
- Poor-condition share
- 118
- public highway bridges
- 1989
- 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.
Lincoln County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lincoln County ranks #29 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 17.8%). Lincoln County, West Virginia contains 118 public highway bridges. Roughly 31.4% are rated “Good,” 50.8% “Fair,” and 17.8% “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
31.4%
37 of 118 rated 7-9
Fair condition
50.8%
60 of 118 rated 5-6
Poor condition
17.8%
21 of 118 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#29 of 55
Among West Virginia counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 118 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 31.4% (37)
Fair 50.8% (60)
Poor 17.8% (21)
Lincoln County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,870 vehicle crossings a day
That is 9.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 17.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 518 crossings a day against 513 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 118 of 118 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
11.9% of Lincoln County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
14 of the 118 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 31.4% 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 19.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
WV 3 over BEAR FORK, built 1940, carries 2,100 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 21-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 10,870 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Lincoln County's bridges were built
118 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1940s 6
1940–1949
6 bridges
- 1950s 2
1950–1959
2 bridges
- 1960s 2
1960–1969
2 bridges
- 1970s 14
1970–1979
14 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
37 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
23 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
18 bridges
- 2010s 13
2010–2019
13 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 37 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1989, 9 years newer than the West Virginia average of 1980.
How Lincoln County compares with West Virginia's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Lincoln County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 17.8% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1989 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 12 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 54 West Virginia counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ritchie County | 127 | 33.9% | 39.4% | 26.8% | 1967 |
| Berkeley County | 119 | 28.6% | 66.4% | 5% | 1986 |
| Pocahontas County | 118 | 23.7% | 55.9% | 20.3% | 1982 |
| Lincoln County (this page) | 118 | 31.4% | 50.8% | 17.8% | 1989 |
| Ohio County | 115 | 17.4% | 55.7% | 27% | 1967 |
| Pendleton County | 114 | 16.7% | 62.3% | 21.1% | 1985 |
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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County, both outside West Virginia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside WV (118 bridges here).
- Autauga County, AL · 118 bridges
- Perry County, AR · 118 bridges
- Montrose County, CO · 118 bridges
- Rabun County, GA · 118 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1989 here).
- Harris County, TX · avg 1989 · 4,029 bridges
- Mecklenburg County, NC · avg 1989 · 746 bridges
- Buffalo County, NE · avg 1989 · 459 bridges
- Brazos County, TX · avg 1989 · 370 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (118)
CO 12
PoorOver: ISLAND CREEK
0.04 MI NORTH OF CR 8, Lincoln, WV
Built 1982 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 350
WV 34
PoorOver: BIG CREEK
0.01 MI. S. OF CR. 34/2, Lincoln, WV
Built 1965 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 1,500
CR 7
PoorOver: SHOALS BRANCH
0.31 MI NORTH OF WV 10, Lincoln, WV
Built 1965 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 400
CR 70
PoorOver: BIG HARTS CREEK
0.02 MI SOUTH OF CR 19, Lincoln, WV
Built 1952 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 350
COUNTY ROUTE 3/10
PoorOver: HORSE CREEK
0.11 MILE SOUTH OF W V 3, Lincoln, WV
Built 2005 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 500
WV 3
PoorOver: VALLEY FORK
0.01 MI WEST OF CR 3/4, Lincoln, WV
Built 1970 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 2,000
WV 3
PoorOver: BEAR FORK
0.02 MI WEST OF CR 16, Lincoln, WV
Built 1940 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 2,100
WV 3
PoorOver: PORTER FORK
0.09 MI EAST OF WV 214, Lincoln, WV
Built 1940 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 1,000
CO 11
PoorOver: FOURMILE CREEK
0.07 MI SOUTH OF CR 23, Lincoln, WV
Built 1976 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 750
CR 22
PoorOver: BIG LAUREL CREEK
0.79 MI NORTH OF CR 7, Lincoln, WV
Built 1970 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 80
CR 5/9
PoorOver: COBB CREEK
0.07 MI SOUTH OF CR 119/2, Lincoln, WV
Built 1990 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 500
CR 1/2
PoorOver: MUD RIVER
0.05 MI EAST OF CR 1, Lincoln, WV
Built 1988 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 10
COUNTY RT. 15/1
PoorOver: BROAD BRANCH
0.74 MI. SOUTH OF CR 15, Lincoln, WV
Built 2013 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 40
CR 19/1
PoorOver: BIG HARTS CREEK
0.09 MI EAST OF CR 19, Lincoln, WV
Built 1984 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 40
CR 5
PoorOver: TRACE FORK
0.06 MI SOUTH OF CR 5/8, Lincoln, WV
Built 1987 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 450
CR 11
PoorOver: FOURMILE CREEK
1.13 MI S OF CR 23, Lincoln, WV
Built 1988 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 550
CR 50
PoorOver: FOURMILE CREEK
0.06 MI SOUTH OF CR 11, Lincoln, WV
Built 1989 Load: 54.4 t ADT: 90
CR 10/30
PoorOver: Guyandotte R WV 10 CSX
0.01 MI SOUTH OF CR 10/32, Lincoln, WV
Built 1991 Load: 85.3 t ADT: 40
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.