| By Bob Weaver
About 178 West Virginia bridges, according to federal records, have been designated as "fracture critical," or at risk of collapse if a single, vital component fails.
The Federal Highway Administration says 952, or 13 percent, of West Virginia's 7,100 bridges are structurally deficient, with the WV-DOT saying while those bridges have problems, they are still safe to cross.
Three of the high risk "fracture critical" bridges are on I-70 at Wheeling and I-64 at Barboursville.
Most of the fracture critical and structurally deficient bridges are in southern West Virginia's coal fields, where the West Virginia Legislature raised the weight limits on bridges to allow coal trucks to cross them without getting fined.
State highway officials say they frequently inspect the high-risk bridges, contending they are not a safety risk.
An Associated Press review found that 80 of the 178 West Virginia bridges had been inspected in the previous two years, 87 in the previous year and one in the previous three months.
Washington-based coalition Transportation for America ranked West Virginia as 14th worst among the states in the percentage of structure deficient bridges, an improvement from the previous two years.
That group's report found that 36 percent of Pocahontas County's 98 bridges and 26 percent of Marshall County's 82 bridges were deficient, the highest number in the state.
Bridges in Webster, Gilmer and Braxton counties had the lowest deficiency rates.
Regionally, Transportation for America's reports:
Clay, 88 bridges/20.5% deficient
Roane, 27 bridges/14.2% deficient
Ritchie, 126 bridges/13.5% deficient
Calhoun, 49 bridges/12.2% deficient
Wirt, 41 bridges/11.9% deficient
Braxton, 147 bridges/4.1% deficient
Gilmer, 106/1.9% deficient
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