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.

Total bridges

224

Public highway bridges in Raleigh County

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.

1910s

2
1920s

3
1930s

7
1940s

7
1950s

12
1960s

10
1970s

25
1980s

71
1990s

42
2000s

33
2010s

10
2020s

2

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Raleigh County and the 5 West Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

All 224 Good 11 Fair 158 Poor 55

All bridges (224)

Sort:

Raleigh County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Raleigh County's Poor-condition bridges carry 144,890 vehicle crossings a day

19.6% of Raleigh County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 11% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Raleigh 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 (224)

COUNTY ROUTE 20

COUNTY ROUTE 10

CR 1

COUNTY RT 3/21

CO 19/12

COUNTY RT 119/30

CO 31/5

County RT 119/44

CR 29/2

COUNTY ROUTE 13

CR 10

WV RT 16

COUNTY ROUTE 15/18

CR 3/6

WV ROUTE 3

CR 3/9

County Route 1/24

County Route 14/4

Co. 7

CR 33

COUNTY ROUTE 3/29

Co. 19/67

CR 3/8

ACCESS RD 2

COUNTY ROUTE 1/20

CO 3/4

CO 1/21

WV RT 3

COUNTY ROUTE 28/3

CR 3/4

CR 6

CR 15/2

CR 7

CR 19/21

COUNTY ROUTE 61/93

CO 19/13

WV 3

CR 19/27

COUNTY ROUTE 7

COUNTY ROUTE 13

CO 16/2

CR 01

WV RT 16

CR 35

CO 1

COUNTY 27

CR 19/12

CO 119/36

CR 3/4

CO 1

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