County profile · official public datasets

Ohio County, WV

115 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 17.4% rated Good, 55.7% Fair, 27% Poor.

115
Public bridges: 17.4%
Good condition: 27%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Ohio 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.

51st
of 55 on Poor share: 27%
Poor-condition share: 115
public highway bridges: 1967
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.

Ohio County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ohio County ranks #51 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 27%). Ohio County, West Virginia contains 115 public highway bridges. Roughly 17.4% are rated “Good,” 55.7% “Fair,” and 27% “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

115

Public highway bridges in Ohio County

Good condition

17.4%

20 of 115 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.7%

64 of 115 rated 5-6

Poor condition

27%

31 of 115 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#51 of 55

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

Condition distribution

Share of 115 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

17.4% (20)

Fair

55.7% (64)

Poor

27% (31)

Ohio County's Poor-condition bridges carry 156,871 vehicle crossings a day

That is 17.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 27% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 5,060 crossings a day against 7,390 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 115 of 115 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

56.5% of Ohio County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

65 of the 115 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 17.4% 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 17.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Interstate 70 EB over Wheeling Creek & City St, built 1966, carries 27,010 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 31-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 156,871 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

3
1900s

1
1910s

3
1920s

11
1930s

5
1940s

4
1950s

11
1960s

17
1970s

25
1980s

10
1990s

7
2000s

7
2010s

5
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 25 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1967, 13 years older than the West Virginia average of 1980.

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

The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Ohio County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 27% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is 16 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ohio County and the 5 West Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Berkeley County	119	28.6%	66.4%	5%	1986
Lincoln County	118	31.4%	50.8%	17.8%	1989
Pocahontas County	118	23.7%	55.9%	20.3%	1982
Ohio County (this page)	115	17.4%	55.7%	27%	1967
Pendleton County	114	16.7%	62.3%	21.1%	1985
Wetzel County	107	39.3%	34.6%	26.2%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WV (115 bridges here).

Alachua County, FL · 115 bridges
Walton County, GA · 115 bridges
Latah County, ID · 115 bridges
Whitley County, IN · 115 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1967 here).

Los Angeles County, CA · avg 1967 · 3,547 bridges
Allegheny County, PA · avg 1967 · 1,294 bridges
Sonoma County, CA · avg 1967 · 609 bridges
Merced County, CA · avg 1967 · 528 bridges

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

All 115 Good 20 Fair 64 Poor 31

Fair-condition bridges (64)

Sort:

Ohio County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ohio County's Poor-condition bridges carry 156,871 vehicle crossings a day

56.5% of Ohio County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 17.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ohio 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

Fair-condition bridges (64)

County Route 18

US Route 40

County Route 53

West Virginia 2 SB

County Route 19

City Street

US Route 40

West Virginia 88

West Virginia 88

West Virginia 2 N.

County Route 6

US Route 40

US Route 40

INTERSTATE 470

Junior Ave City St

County Route 39/2

County Route 53/4

INTERSTATE 70

I-470 WB On-Ramp

County Route 1

Interstate 70

I-70 EB & WB

Interstate 470

Interstate 70

US 250 Ramp A

US Route 250

County Route 24/2

Interstate 70 WB

Interstate 70

Interstate 70 WB

Interstate 470

Interstate 70 EB

I-470 Ramp C

County Route 21

US Route 40

Interstate 470

County Route 2/2

US Route 40

Interstate 70 West

US 250 South

US Route 40

US 250

County Route 17

County Route 3

US 250 Northbound

US Route 40

US 40 SPUR

I-70 WB

I-70 Eastbound

County Route 39

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