Total bridges
262
Public highway bridges in Albemarle County
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.
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.
When Albemarle County's bridges were built
262 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 3
1900–1909
3 bridges
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1920s 4
1920–1929
4 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
73 bridges
- 1940s 6
1940–1949
6 bridges
- 1950s 19
1950–1959
19 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
48 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
54 bridges
- 1980s 14
1980–1989
14 bridges
- 1990s 18
1990–1999
18 bridges
- 2000s 5
2000–2009
5 bridges
- 2010s 13
2010–2019
13 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (5)
PATTERSON MILL LN.
PoorOver: STOCKTON CREEK
0.80 FR 250/0.83 TO 688, Albemarle, VA
Built 1932 Load: 2.7 t ADT: 161
BROWNS GAP TURNPIK
PoorOver: LICKINGHOLE CREEK
0.02 FR 240 / 0.51 TO 802, Albemarle, VA
Built 1932 Load: 20.9 t ADT: 536
OLD IVY ROAD
PoorOver: ROUTE 29 & 250 BYPASS
0.66 FR 250 /0.06 TO 855, Albemarle, VA
Built 1961 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 7,052
DAVIS SHOP ROAD
PoorOver: BUCK MOUNTAIN CREEK
0.90 FR 601 / 1.20 TO 664, Albemarle, VA
Built 1975 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 592
RED HILL ROAD
PoorOver: NORTH FORK HARDWARE RVR
0.42 FR 717 / 0.04 TO 20, Albemarle, VA
Built 1959 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 1,419
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.