County profile · official public datasets

Albemarle County, VA

262 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.4% rated Good, 63.7% Fair, 1.9% Poor.

262
Public bridges: 34.4%
Good condition: 1.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Albemarle County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 35%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.9%
Poor-condition share: 262
public highway bridges: 1962
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.

Albemarle County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Albemarle County ranks #45 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.9%). Albemarle County, Virginia contains 262 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.4% are rated “Good,” 63.7% “Fair,” and 1.9% “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

262

Public highway bridges in Albemarle County

Good condition

34.4%

90 of 262 rated 7-9

Fair condition

63.7%

167 of 262 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.9%

5 of 262 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#45 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 262 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.4% (90)

Fair

63.7% (167)

Poor

1.9% (5)

Albemarle County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,760 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,952 crossings a day against 3,245 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 262 of 262 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

76% of Albemarle County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

199 of the 262 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 34.4% 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 72.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

OLD IVY ROAD over ROUTE 29 & 250 BYPASS, built 1961, carries 7,052 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,760 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

3
1910s

2
1920s

4
1930s

73
1940s

6
1950s

19
1960s

48
1970s

54
1980s

14
1990s

18
2000s

5
2010s

13
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 73 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1962, 12 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Albemarle County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1962 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is 8 years older.

Showing the 5 closest of 128 Virginia counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Albemarle County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Rockingham County	288	53.1%	43.8%	3.1%	1972
Buchanan County	283	12%	83.4%	4.6%	1967
Pittsylvania County	267	40.8%	53.9%	5.2%	1977
Albemarle County (this page)	262	34.4%	63.7%	1.9%	1962
Rockbridge County	255	31%	65.5%	3.5%	1964
Fauquier County	229	38%	60.7%	1.3%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (262 bridges here).

Yuma County, AZ · 262 bridges
Rice County, KS · 262 bridges
Washtenaw County, MI · 262 bridges
Lavaca County, TX · 262 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1962 here).

Berks County, PA · avg 1962 · 667 bridges
Pecos County, TX · avg 1962 · 470 bridges
Bristol County, MA · avg 1962 · 384 bridges
Norfolk County, MA · avg 1962 · 343 bridges

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

All 262 Good 90 Fair 167 Poor 5

Good-condition bridges (90)

Sort:

Albemarle County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Albemarle County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,760 vehicle crossings a day

76% of Albemarle County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 72.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

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

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Good-condition bridges (90)

BLACKWELLS HOLLOW

ROLLING ROAD

BUCK ISLAND ROAD

BLENHEIM ROAD

DICK WOODS ROAD

BLACKWELLS HOLLOW

BLACKWELLS HOLLOW

WATTS PASSAGE

Rte 250 - IVY ROAD

JEFFERSON MILL RD

BURNLEY STATION RD

DECCA LANE

ARROWHEAD VALLEY R

HILLSDALE DRIVE

BROWNS GAP TURNPIK

JOHN WARNER PARKWA

JAMES RIVER ROAD

BALLARDS MILL ROAD

BLACKWELLS HOLLOW

LOUISA ROAD

SEMINOLE TRAIL SBL

STONY POINT ROAD

STONY POINT ROAD

BROWNS GAP TURNPIK

MCCORMICK ROAD

ORTMAN ROAD

SEMINOLE TRAIL NBL

BREAK HEART ROAD

ARROWHEAD VALLEY R

TEEL LANE

TAYLORS GAP ROAD

PRVT ENT-HICKORY H

PRVT ENT- BRITTS M

THREE NOTCHD ROAD

CROZET AVENUE

LANGHORNE ROAD

ESMONT ROAD

MURRAYS LANE

MILL CREEK DRIVE

THOMAS JEFFERSON P

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