County profile · official public datasets

Preston County, WV

182 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.2% rated Good, 41.8% Fair, 23.1% Poor.

182
Public bridges: 35.2%
Good condition: 23.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Preston 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.

38th
of 55 on Poor share: 23.1%
Poor-condition share: 182
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Preston County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Preston County ranks #38 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 23.1%). Preston County, West Virginia contains 182 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.2% are rated “Good,” 41.8% “Fair,” and 23.1% “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

182

Public highway bridges in Preston County

Good condition

35.2%

64 of 182 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41.8%

76 of 182 rated 5-6

Poor condition

23.1%

42 of 182 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#38 of 55

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

Condition distribution

Share of 182 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35.2% (64)

Fair

41.8% (76)

Poor

23.1% (42)

Preston County's Poor-condition bridges carry 47,920 vehicle crossings a day

That is 26.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 23.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,141 crossings a day against 421 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 182 of 182 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.4% of Preston County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

88 of the 182 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 35.2% 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 13.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

INTERSTATE 68 WB over Laurel Run & Co Rt 73/5, built 1970, carries 6,550 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 42-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 47,920 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1910s

12
1920s

6
1930s

23
1940s

10
1950s

10
1960s

6
1970s

23
1980s

22
1990s

27
2000s

29
2010s

11
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 29 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1971, 9 years older than the West Virginia average of 1980.

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

The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Preston County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 23.1% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Preston County and the 5 West Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Marion County	193	48.2%	30.6%	21.2%	1977
Jackson County	191	38.2%	38.2%	23.6%	1973
Randolph County	190	30.5%	54.2%	15.3%	1989
Preston County (this page)	182	35.2%	41.8%	23.1%	1971
Wood County	180	42.2%	35.6%	22.2%	1980
Mercer County	174	2.3%	72.4%	25.3%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WV (182 bridges here).

Logan County, CO · 182 bridges
Ida County, IA · 182 bridges
Wright County, IA · 182 bridges
Pulaski County, KY · 182 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges

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

All 182 Good 64 Fair 76 Poor 42

All bridges (182)

Sort:

Preston County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Preston County's Poor-condition bridges carry 47,920 vehicle crossings a day

48.4% of Preston County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 13.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Preston 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 (182)

INTERSTATE 68

PRESTON CO RT 73/2

WV ROUTE 26

PRESTON CO RT 8/3

US ROUTE 50

INTERSTATE 68

PRESTON CO RT 3

PRESTON CO RT 5/13

PRESTON CO RT 7/12

WV ROUTE 26

WV ROUTE 7

PRESTON CO RT 76

PRE. CO. RT. 8

PRESTON CO RT 7/1

PRESTON CO RT 51

PRESTON CO RT 21

PRESTON CO RT 51

PRESTON CO RT 51

PRESTON CO RT 8

PRESTON CO RT 33

PRESTON CO RT 50/2

PRESTON CO RT 51/6

PRESTON CO RT 72/3

PRESTON CO RT 21/2

PRESTON CO RT 28

INTERSTATE 68

WV ROUTE 92

PRESTON CO RT 66

PRES CO RT 7/2

PRESTON CO 26/38

PRESTON CO RT 51

PRESTON CO RT 68/8

PRESTON CO RT 106

PRESTON CO RT 70/2

WV 26 (F)

WV 92

Dodd Co Rt 74/3

PRESTON CO RT 37

PRESTON CO RT 37

WV Alternate 72

PRES CO RT 86

PRESTON CO RT 39

COUNTY ROUTE 76/1

PRES CO RT 51

Pres Co. Rt. 68/7

WV ROUTE 26

COUNTY ROUTE 52

WV ROUTE 72

PRE CO RT 7/27

Pres Co 106

Related