Total bridges
115
Public highway bridges in Ohio County
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.
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.
When Ohio County's bridges were built
115 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 3
Built before 1900
3 bridges
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1910s 3
1910–1919
3 bridges
- 1920s
1920–1929
11 bridges
- 1930s 5
1930–1939
5 bridges
- 1940s 4
1940–1949
4 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
11 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
17 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
25 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
10 bridges
- 1990s 7
1990–1999
7 bridges
- 2000s 7
2000–2009
7 bridges
- 2010s 5
2010–2019
5 bridges
- 2020s 6
2020–2029
6 bridges
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.
| 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.
Fair-condition bridges (64)
I-70 Westbound
FairOver: US Route 40
0.60 mi. West jct US 40, Ohio, WV
Built 1971 Load: 55.3 t ADT: 16,300
United States 40
FairOver: Long Run
0.20 mi. West jct WV 88, Ohio, WV
Built 2006 Load: 58.0 t ADT: 14,200
Interstate 70 WB
FairOver: Wheeling Creek/WB Ramps
1.08 mi. East jct US40, Ohio, WV
Built 1965 Load: 59.0 t ADT: 21,480
COUNTY ROUTE 7
FairOver: SHORT CREEK
0.01 MI EAST JCT CR 1, Ohio, WV
Built 1989 Load: 60.8 t ADT: 1,000
County Route 43
FairOver: Middle Wheeling Creek
0.01 mi. East jct CR39/6, Ohio, WV
Built 1980 Load: 60.8 t ADT: 3,100
I-70 Eastbound
FairOver: Wheeling Creek
1.21 mi. West jct US40, Ohio, WV
Built 1958 Load: 61.7 t ADT: 16,300
US Route 40
FairOver: Little Wheeling Creek
0.16 mi. West jct CR29, Ohio, WV
Built 1986 Load: 62.6 t ADT: 3,700
County Route 24
FairOver: Big Wheeling Creek
0.11 mi. South jct WV2, Ohio, WV
Built 2001 Load: 63.5 t ADT: 3,100
West Virginia 2
FairOver: Glenns Run
0.08 mi. North jct CR 3, Ohio, WV
Built 2012 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 7,700
US Route 40
FairOver: Little Wheeling Creek
0.03 Mi. West Jct CR 40/4, Ohio, WV
Built 1937 Load: 66.2 t ADT: 3,400
Interstate 70 EB
FairOver: Mt. deChantal Road
1.33 mi. East jct US 40, Ohio, WV
Built 1958 Load: 68.9 t ADT: 16,100
Schenk Street
FairOver: Wheeling Creek
0.10 mi. South jct US 40, Ohio, WV
Built 1977 Load: 68.9 t ADT: 3,888
Interstate 70 WB
FairOver: Mt. deChantal Road
1.33 mi. East jct US40, Ohio, WV
Built 1958 Load: 71.7 t ADT: 16,100
Ramp US250 to I70E
FairOver: Wheeling Creek
Junction US 250 & I 70 EB, Ohio, WV
Built 1966 Load: 72.6 t ADT: 2,000
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.