Total bridges
97
Public highway bridges in Nicholas County
County profile · official public datasets
Nicholas County, WV
97 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25.8% rated Good, 59.8% Fair, 14.4% Poor.
- 97
- Public bridges
- 25.8%
- Good condition
- 14.4%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Nicholas County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 33%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 14.4%
- Poor-condition share
- 97
- public highway bridges
- 1986
- 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.
Nicholas County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Nicholas County ranks #18 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 14.4%). Nicholas County, West Virginia contains 97 public highway bridges. Roughly 25.8% are rated “Good,” 59.8% “Fair,” and 14.4% “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
25.8%
25 of 97 rated 7-9
Fair condition
59.8%
58 of 97 rated 5-6
Poor condition
14.4%
14 of 97 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#18 of 55
Among West Virginia counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 97 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 25.8% (25)
Fair 59.8% (58)
Poor 14.4% (14)
Nicholas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,054 vehicle crossings a day
That is 3.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 14.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 432 crossings a day against 1,195 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 97 of 97 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
25.8% of Nicholas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
25 of the 97 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 25.8% 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 28.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
WV 55 over MUDDLETY CREEK, built 1929, carries 1,700 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 14-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 6,054 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Nicholas County's bridges were built
97 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1920s 2
1920–1929
2 bridges
- 1930s 3
1930–1939
3 bridges
- 1950s 5
1950–1959
5 bridges
- 1960s 6
1960–1969
6 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
14 bridges
- 1980s 10
1980–1989
10 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
27 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
16 bridges
- 2010s 7
2010–2019
7 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 27 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1986, 6 years newer than the West Virginia average of 1980.
How Nicholas County compares with West Virginia's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Nicholas County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 14.4% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is 14 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 54 West Virginia counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doddridge County | 99 | 38.4% | 37.4% | 24.2% | 1974 |
| Upshur County | 99 | 21.2% | 66.7% | 12.1% | 1971 |
| Grant County | 97 | 21.6% | 64.9% | 13.4% | 1980 |
| Nicholas County (this page) | 97 | 25.8% | 59.8% | 14.4% | 1986 |
| Barbour County | 93 | 12.9% | 72% | 15.1% | 1957 |
| Hampshire County | 92 | 23.9% | 65.2% | 10.9% | 1978 |
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 Nicholas 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 Nicholas County, both outside West Virginia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside WV (97 bridges here).
- Forsyth County, GA · 97 bridges
- Elmore County, ID · 97 bridges
- Mason County, KY · 97 bridges
- Swift County, MN · 97 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1986 here).
- El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
- Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
- Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
- Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (14)
COUNTY ROUTE 82/01
PoorOver: BIRCH RIVER
0.08 Miles N. of WV 82, Nicholas, WV
Built 1916 Load: 11.8 t ADT: 40
COUNTY ROUTE 39/23
PoorOver: LITTLE LAUREL CREEK
0.02 Miles E. of CR 39/18, Nicholas, WV
Built 1950 Load: 15.4 t ADT: 20
WV 55
PoorOver: MUDDLETY CREEK
0.17 Miles E. of CR 19/41, Nicholas, WV
Built 1929 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 1,700
COUNTY ROUTE 1
PoorOver: BIRCH RIVER
0.64 Miles W. of CR 1/6, Nicholas, WV
Built 1950 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 691
WV 39
PoorOver: LINE CREEK
0.06 Miles E. of CR 19/22, Nicholas, WV
Built 1930 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 1,174
COUNTY ROUTE 12
PoorOver: GLADE CREEK
0.43 Miles S. of WV 41, Nicholas, WV
Built 1978 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 861
COUNTY ROUTE 39/17
PoorOver: NORTH FORK CHERRY RIVER
0.30 Miles E. of WV 39, Nicholas, WV
Built 1981 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 60
COUNTY ROUTE 24/7
PoorOver: ANGLINS CREEK
0.73 Miles E. of CR 13/1, Nicholas, WV
Built 1950 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 550
COUNTY ROUTE 20/16
PoorOver: BRUSHY MEADOW CREEK
0.01 Miles N. OF WV 20, Nicholas, WV
Built 1950 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 50
COUNTY ROUTE 9
PoorOver: PETERS CREEK
0.01 Miles S. of WV 39, Nicholas, WV
Built 1977 Load: 31.7 t ADT: 360
COUNTY ROUTE 13
PoorOver: BRUSHY MEADOW CREEK
0.04 Miles W. of WV 20, Nicholas, WV
Built 1977 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 188
COUNTY ROUTE 22
PoorOver: LAUREL BRANCH
0.10 Miles W. of WV 129, Nicholas, WV
Built 1970 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 150
COUNTY ROUTE 26/3
PoorOver: MOUSE FORK
0.66 Miles East of CR 26, Nicholas, WV
Built 1975 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 10
COUNTY ROUTE 39/18
PoorOver: LITTLE LAUREL CREEK
0.60 Miles S. of CR 39/13, Nicholas, WV
Built 1988 Load: 52.6 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.