Total bridges
224
Public highway bridges in Raleigh County
County profile · official public datasets
Raleigh County, WV
224 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 4.9% rated Good, 70.5% Fair, 24.6% Poor.
- 224
- Public bridges
- 4.9%
- Good condition
- 24.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Raleigh County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 43rd
- of 55 on Poor share
- 24.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 224
- public highway bridges
- 1983
- 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.
Raleigh County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Raleigh County ranks #43 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 24.6%). Raleigh County, West Virginia contains 224 public highway bridges. Roughly 4.9% are rated “Good,” 70.5% “Fair,” and 24.6% “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
4.9%
11 of 224 rated 7-9
Fair condition
70.5%
158 of 224 rated 5-6
Poor condition
24.6%
55 of 224 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#43 of 55
Among West Virginia counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 224 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 4.9% (11)
Fair 70.5% (158)
Poor 24.6% (55)
Raleigh County's Poor-condition bridges carry 144,890 vehicle crossings a day
That is 11.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 24.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,634 crossings a day against 15,114 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 224 of 224 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
19.6% of Raleigh County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
44 of the 224 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 4.9% 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 11% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
WV. RTE. 16 over BECKLEY BIKE & PED TRAIL, built 1959, carries 16,000 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 55-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 144,890 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Raleigh County's bridges were built
224 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1920s 3
1920–1929
3 bridges
- 1930s 7
1930–1939
7 bridges
- 1940s 7
1940–1949
7 bridges
- 1950s 12
1950–1959
12 bridges
- 1960s 10
1960–1969
10 bridges
- 1970s 25
1970–1979
25 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
71 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
42 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
33 bridges
- 2010s 10
2010–2019
10 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 71 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the West Virginia average (1980).
How Raleigh County compares with West Virginia's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Raleigh County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 24.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 54 West Virginia counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logan County | 236 | 23.7% | 52.5% | 23.7% | 1989 |
| McDowell County | 225 | 4% | 64.4% | 31.6% | 1981 |
| Raleigh County (this page) | 224 | 4.9% | 70.5% | 24.6% | 1983 |
| Fayette County | 211 | 19% | 67.8% | 13.3% | 1982 |
| Cabell County | 207 | 25.1% | 57.5% | 17.4% | 1984 |
| Greenbrier County | 207 | 22.7% | 64.3% | 13% | 1979 |
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 Raleigh 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 Raleigh County, both outside West Virginia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside WV (224 bridges here).
- Conecuh County, AL · 224 bridges
- Sac County, IA · 224 bridges
- Riley County, KS · 224 bridges
- Clarke County, MS · 224 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1983 here).
- Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
- Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
- Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
- Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (11)
I-77 SB
GoodOver: Raleigh Co. 4 & 6 Conn.
0.72 MI S OF RT 19, Raleigh, WV
Built 1980 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 21,034
I-77 NB
GoodOver: Raleigh Co. 4 & 6 Conn.
0.72 MI S OF RT 19, Raleigh, WV
Built 1980 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 21,034
I-77 SB
GoodOver: CR 48
0.01 MI S OF CR 48, Raleigh, WV
Built 1979 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 26,039
I-77 SB
GoodOver: Raleigh County Route 42
1.69 MI. N. OF CO RT 41, Raleigh, WV
Built 1979 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 13,195
CR 19/8
GoodOver: Lewis McMannus Trail
0.07 Mile East of Co 21/3, Raleigh, WV
Built 2022 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 7,600
US 19 and WV 3
GoodOver: Piney Creek
0.01 MI N OF CR 19/42, Raleigh, WV
Built 2022 Load: 47.2 t ADT: 12,700
CO 6
GoodOver: NORTH SAND BRANCH
0.07 MI SOUTH OF CO 19/3, Raleigh, WV
Built 2001 Load: 48.1 t ADT: 1,200
CR 1/22
GoodOver: CLEAR FORK
0.01 MI E OF CR 1, Raleigh, WV
Built 1994 Load: 68.0 t ADT: 50
I77 SB
GoodOver: BEAVER CREEK
5.30 MI S OF I64 I/C, Raleigh, WV
Built 1950 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 20,605
I77 SB
GoodOver: SOUTH SAND BRANCH
1.20 MI N OF N BECKLEY IC, Raleigh, WV
Built 1950 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 20,605
I77 NB
GoodOver: N. SAND BRANCH
2.58 MI N OF CORR L I/C, Raleigh, WV
Built 1984 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 22,196
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.