Details about this story

• Source: Charleston Gazette
• Date: February 03, 2008
• URL: Read the story
• Bylines: Tara Tuckwiller
• Topics: Safety , Transportation
• Data Types: Federal Data
• Description/Excerpt: Bridges in West Virginia are more likely than those in almost any other state to go longer than two years without an inspection, federal data show. The vast majority of those had federal permission to be inspected only every four years. A Gazette-Mail analysis of the data shows that among West Virginia bridges listed as being on a 48-month inspection schedule: Most - 57 percent - were built in the 1990s or later. There are some older bridges; 112 of the bridges on a 48-month schedule are more than 40 years old. The oldest West Virginia bridge on the four-year plan is a 1926 one-lane bridge that carries an estimated 50 vehicles a day on Calhoun County Route 1/1 over Straight Creek. It is listed as being neither "structurally deficient" nor "functionally obsolete."