County profile · official public datasets

Wetzel County, WV

107 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.3% rated Good, 34.6% Fair, 26.2% Poor.

107
Public bridges
39.3%
Good condition
26.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Wetzel 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.

48th
of 55 on Poor share
26.2%
Poor-condition share
107
public highway bridges
1975
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.

Wetzel County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wetzel County ranks #48 of 55 West Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 26.2%). Wetzel County, West Virginia contains 107 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.3% are rated “Good,” 34.6% “Fair,” and 26.2% “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

107

Public highway bridges in Wetzel County

Good condition

39.3%

42 of 107 rated 7-9

Fair condition

34.6%

37 of 107 rated 5-6

Poor condition

26.2%

28 of 107 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#48 of 55

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

Condition distribution

Share of 107 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
39.3% (42)
Fair
34.6% (37)
Poor
26.2% (28)

Wetzel County's Poor-condition bridges carry 25,340 vehicle crossings a day

That is 20.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 26.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 905 crossings a day against 1,078 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 107 of 107 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.1% of Wetzel County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

45 of the 107 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 39.3% 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 25.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

West Virginia 7 SP over WV 2 NB & SB, built 1960, carries 6,500 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 28-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 25,340 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Wetzel County's bridges were built

107 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 22 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1975, 5 years older than the West Virginia average of 1980.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 West Virginia counties nearest Wetzel County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 26.2% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1974 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 Wetzel County and the 5 West Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Ohio County 115 27%
Pendleton County 114 21.1%
Wetzel County (this page) 107 26.2%
Gilmer County 106 14.2%
Doddridge County 99 24.2%
Upshur County 99 12.1%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WV (107 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WV (1975 here).

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

All 107 Good 42 Fair 37 Poor 28

Poor-condition bridges (28)

County Route 7/23

Poor

Over: Little Fishing Creek

0.06 mi. West jct WV7, Wetzel, WV

Built 1912 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 50

County Route 7/5

Poor

Over: Little Fishing Creek

0.02 mi. East jct WV7, Wetzel, WV

Built 1913 Load: 5.4 t ADT: 50

County Route 82/1

Poor

Over: Buffalo Run

0.01 mi. South jct CR 82, Wetzel, WV

Built 1920 Load: 10.9 t ADT: 50

County Route 19

Poor

Over: Big Run

0.01 Mi. East Jct CR 19/1, Wetzel, WV

Built 1920 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 50

County Route 39

Poor

Over: Morgan Run

0.24 mi. South jct WV 20, Wetzel, WV

Built 1918 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 50

West Virginia 7

Poor

Over: Scheidler Run

0.02 mi. West jct CR 7/7, Wetzel, WV

Built 1926 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 1,600

County Route 80

Poor

Over: North Fork Fishing Creek

0.01 mi. South jct CR15, Wetzel, WV

Built 1917 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 50

West Virginia 7

Poor

Over: Little Fishing Creek

0.37 mi. West jct CR 5, Wetzel, WV

Built 1924 Load: 20.0 t ADT: 1,800

County Route 9/2

Poor

Over: Sugar Run

0.03 mi. South jct CR 9, Wetzel, WV

Built 1922 Load: 20.9 t ADT: 10

West Virginia 7

Poor

Over: Duerns Run

1.13 mi. West jct CR 38, Wetzel, WV

Built 1924 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 1,800

West Virginia 20

Poor

Over: South Fork Fishing Creek

0.07 mi. South jct C20/10, Wetzel, WV

Built 1938 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 1,700

County Route 24

Poor

Over: Carney Fork

0.01 mi. North jct CR 8/5, Wetzel, WV

Built 1925 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 10

County Route 50

Poor

Over: Brush Run

0.01 mi. South jct CR 48, Wetzel, WV

Built 1963 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 150

West Virginia 20

Poor

Over: South Fork Fishing Creek

0.10 mi North jct CR20/10, Wetzel, WV

Built 1938 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 1,700

West Virginia 20

Poor

Over: South Fork Fishing Creek

0.01 mi. North jct CR20/5, Wetzel, WV

Built 1929 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 1,200

County Route 52

Poor

Over: Reader Creek

0.09 mi North jct CR 40/1, Wetzel, WV

Built 1958 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 50

County Route 64

Poor

Over: Long Drain

0.06 mi. South jct CR64/6, Wetzel, WV

Built 1971 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 350

US Route 250

Poor

Over: Church Fork Creek

0.02 mi. South jct WV 69, Wetzel, WV

Built 1933 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 2,100

County Route 16

Poor

Over: Rock Camp Run

0.60 mi. North jct US 250, Wetzel, WV

Built 1990 Load: 31.7 t ADT: 200

County Route 26/2

Poor

Over: Paden Fork

0.02 Mi. West Jct. CR 26, Wetzel, WV

Built 1973 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 50

County Route 15/3

Poor

Over: North Willey Fork

0.01 mi. South jct CR19, Wetzel, WV

Built 1951 Load: 33.6 t ADT: 10

West Virginia 7 SP

Poor

Over: WV 2 NB & SB

0.07 mi. West jct WV 2, Wetzel, WV

Built 1960 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 6,500

County Route 7/11

Poor

Over: Knob Fork Run

0.01 mi. South jct CR7/14, Wetzel, WV

Built 2005 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 10

West Virginia 180

Poor

Over: Point Pleasant Creek

0.23 mi. South jct CR 2/1, Wetzel, WV

Built 1964 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 2,700

US ROUTE 250

Poor

Over: WV FORK OF FISH CREEK

0.50 MI NORTH JCT CR 16, Wetzel, WV

Built 1979 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 1,000

West Virginia 7

Poor

Over: Little Fishing Creek

0.11 mi. West jct CR 5, Wetzel, WV

Built 1924 Load: 48.1 t ADT: 1,800

County Route 54

Poor

Over: Crow Run

0.25 mi. North jct CR54/1, Wetzel, WV

Built 1964 Load: 51.7 t ADT: 50

County Route 13

Poor

Over: Rush Run

0.08 Mi. North Jct CR64/1, Wetzel, WV

Built 1930 Load: 68.0 t ADT: 250

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.