County profile · official public datasets

Morgan County, WV

55 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 18.2% rated Good, 56.4% Fair, 25.5% Poor.

55
Public bridges: 18.2%
Good condition: 25.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Morgan 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.

46th
of 55 on Poor share: 25.5%
Poor-condition share: 55
public highway bridges: 1961
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.

Morgan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Morgan County ranks #46 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 25.5%). Morgan County, West Virginia contains 55 public highway bridges. Roughly 18.2% are rated “Good,” 56.4% “Fair,” and 25.5% “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

Public highway bridges in Morgan County

Good condition

18.2%

10 of 55 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56.4%

31 of 55 rated 5-6

Poor condition

25.5%

14 of 55 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#46 of 55

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

Condition distribution

Share of 55 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

18.2% (10)

Fair

56.4% (31)

Poor

25.5% (14)

Morgan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,850 vehicle crossings a day

That is 15.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 25.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 632 crossings a day against 455 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 55 of 55 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

61.8% of Morgan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

34 of the 55 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 18.2% 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 36.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

WV 09 F over SLEEPY CREEK, built 1900, carries 3,200 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 14-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,850 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

4
1920s

7
1930s

8
1940s

8
1950s

1
1960s

2
1970s

2
1980s

2
1990s

4
2000s

8
2010s

6
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 8 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 14.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1961, 19 years older than the West Virginia average of 1980.

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

The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Morgan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 25.5% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1961 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 15 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Morgan County and the 5 West Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Taylor County	65	40%	52.3%	7.7%	1971
Mineral County	63	27%	65.1%	7.9%	1972
Monroe County	63	23.8%	61.9%	14.3%	1983
Brooke County	57	22.8%	59.6%	17.5%	1983
Morgan County (this page)	55	18.2%	56.4%	25.5%	1961
Calhoun County	49	38.8%	34.7%	26.5%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WV (55 bridges here).

Park County, CO · 55 bridges
Dixie County, FL · 55 bridges
Winnebago County, IA · 55 bridges
Logan County, KS · 55 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1961 here).

Westchester County, NY · avg 1961 · 774 bridges
Tehama County, CA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
Berkshire County, MA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
Schuylkill County, PA · avg 1961 · 368 bridges

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

All 55 Good 10 Fair 31 Poor 14

All bridges (55)

Sort:

Morgan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Morgan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,850 vehicle crossings a day

61.8% of Morgan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 36.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Morgan 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

All bridges (55)

CR 19 SLS

COUNTY RD. 08 SLS

CR 13/3 SLS

COUNTY RD. 05 SLS

CR 07 (SLS)

P&F ROAD 801

CR 13 SLS

CR 01 SLS

C R 522/10 SLS

US 522

CR. 28/1

US 522 F

CR 08 SLS

CR 08 SLS

WV 09 F

WV 09 F

WV 09 F

COUNTY RD. 9/12

U S 522 F

US 522 F

CR 13 SLS

MD 51

COUNTY ROAD 26

CR 3/1 SLS

CR 16 SLS

CR 38/1 SLS

CR. 38 /10 SLS

WV 09 F

CR 18 SLS

CR 11 SLS

CR 22 SLS

CR 08 (SLS)

CR 02 SLS

CR 01 (SLS)

CR 03 SLS

CR 28 SLS

CR 13 (SLS)

COUNTY ROAD 38/2 S

CR 8/18 SLS

CR 08 (SLS)

CR 28 (SLS)

CR 8/1 SLS

CR. 9/3 SLS

CR. 13 SLS

CR 13 SLS

CR 13/1 SLS

WV 09 F

CR 13/13 (SLS)

CR 08 SLS

WV 09 F

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