Despite its relatively small size (24,000 square miles), the Mountain State is home to over 3,000 communities including 234 municipalities and another 205 Census-designated places. To link them (and to provide an important part of the transportation of the state’s abundant natural resources), there are nearly 39,000 miles of public roads and more than 7,000 road bridges in the state. The state of West Virginia maintains 34,700 miles of that system (89%) with municipalities maintaining 3,300 miles and federal agencies maintaining 900 miles. The road system is 83% rural and includes 556 miles of interstate highway and another 82 miles of the non-interstate strategic highway system.