Total bridges
225
Public highway bridges in McDowell County
County profile · official public datasets
McDowell County, WV
225 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 4% rated Good, 64.4% Fair, 31.6% Poor.
- 225
- Public bridges
- 4%
- Good condition
- 31.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
McDowell County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 54th
- of 55 on Poor share
- 31.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 225
- public highway bridges
- 1981
- 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.
McDowell County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, McDowell County ranks #54 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 31.6%). McDowell County, West Virginia contains 225 public highway bridges. Roughly 4% are rated “Good,” 64.4% “Fair,” and 31.6% “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.
Good condition
4%
9 of 225 rated 7-9
Fair condition
64.4%
145 of 225 rated 5-6
Poor condition
31.6%
71 of 225 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#54 of 55
Among West Virginia counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 225 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 4% (9)
Fair 64.4% (145)
Poor 31.6% (71)
McDowell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 36,110 vehicle crossings a day
That is 26.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 31.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 516 crossings a day against 507 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 224 of 225 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
28% of McDowell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
63 of the 225 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 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 14.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
WV 16 over BROWNS CREEK, built 1999, carries 5,300 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 71-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 36,110 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When McDowell County's bridges were built
225 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 2
Built before 1900
2 bridges
- 1910s 10
1910–1919
10 bridges
- 1920s 6
1920–1929
6 bridges
- 1930s 19
1930–1939
19 bridges
- 1940s 11
1940–1949
11 bridges
- 1950s 6
1950–1959
6 bridges
- 1960s 7
1960–1969
7 bridges
- 1970s 19
1970–1979
19 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
24 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
50 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
44 bridges
- 2010s 17
2010–2019
17 bridges
- 2020s 10
2020–2029
10 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 50 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the West Virginia average (1980).
How McDowell County compares with West Virginia's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 West Virginia counties nearest McDowell County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 31.6% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 54 West Virginia counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logan County | 236 | 23.7% | 52.5% | 23.7% | 1989 |
| McDowell County (this page) | 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 |
| Cabell County | 207 | 25.1% | 57.5% | 17.4% | 1984 |
| Greenbrier County | 207 | 22.7% | 64.3% | 13% | 1979 |
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 McDowell 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 McDowell County, both outside West Virginia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside WV (225 bridges here).
- Dallas County, AL · 225 bridges
- Madison County, IA · 225 bridges
- Mahaska County, IA · 225 bridges
- Lincoln County, KS · 225 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1981 here).
- Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
- Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
- Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
- McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (9)
County Route 83/21
GoodOver: Dry Fork
0.03 MI. E. of WV 83, McDowell, WV
Built 2022 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 20
County Route 1/3
GoodOver: Longpole Creek
MI. E. OF CR. 1 1.30, McDowell, WV
Built 2020 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 150
County Route 52/12
GoodOver: Elkhorn Creek
0.37 Miles East of US 52, McDowell, WV
Built 2016 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 90
County Route 52/1
GoodOver: Tug Fork
0.03 Mi. West of Cr. 7, McDowell, WV
Built 2015 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 100
County Route 16/49
GoodOver: Tug Fork
0.11 Mi. North Of US. 52A, McDowell, WV
Built 2015 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 300
Co. Rt. 1/3
GoodOver: Longpole Creek
1.20 Mi. East of Cr. 1, McDowell, WV
Built 2020 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 150
US 52
GoodOver: Laurel Branch
0.02 MI W OF CR 52/6, McDowell, WV
Built 2022 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 3,100
COUNTY ROUTE 12/4
GoodOver: War Creek
0.31 MI SOUTH OF CO 12/11, McDowell, WV
Built 2023 Load: 56.2 t ADT: 450
Hale Street
GoodOver: War Creek
0.01 MI W OF CR 12/4, McDowell, WV
Built 2023 Load: 70.7 t ADT: 200
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.