County profile · official public datasets

Bland County, VA

122 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 11.5% rated Good, 82.8% Fair, 5.7% Poor.

122
Public bridges: 11.5%
Good condition: 5.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

91st
of 129 on Poor share: 5.7%
Poor-condition share: 122
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Bland County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bland County ranks #91 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.7%). Bland County, Virginia contains 122 public highway bridges. Roughly 11.5% are rated “Good,” 82.8% “Fair,” and 5.7% “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

122

Public highway bridges in Bland County

Good condition

11.5%

14 of 122 rated 7-9

Fair condition

82.8%

101 of 122 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.7%

7 of 122 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#91 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 122 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

11.5% (14)

Fair

82.8% (101)

Poor

5.7% (7)

Bland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 16,156 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,308 crossings a day against 2,315 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 122 of 122 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

73.8% of Bland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

90 of the 122 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 11.5% 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 96.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-77 NBL over RTE 606, built 1974, carries 15,519 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 16,156 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

6
1930s

10
1940s

11
1950s

20
1960s

12
1970s

33
1980s

8
1990s

6
2000s

8
2010s

7
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 33 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1968, 6 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Bland County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bland County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Prince George County	132	6.8%	88.6%	4.5%	1975
Richmond city County	125	11.2%	73.6%	15.2%	1972
York County	122	19.7%	79.5%	0.8%	1979
Bland County (this page)	122	11.5%	82.8%	5.7%	1968
Virginia Beach city County	119	38.7%	59.7%	1.7%	1983
Floyd County	115	47%	53%	0%	1965

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (122 bridges here).

Conway County, AR · 122 bridges
Jefferson County, TN · 122 bridges
Burleson County, TX · 122 bridges
Maverick County, TX · 122 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges

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

All 122 Good 14 Fair 101 Poor 7

All bridges (122)

Sort:

Bland County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 16,156 vehicle crossings a day

73.8% of Bland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 96.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bland 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

All bridges (122)

BIRCH GROVE ROAD

WILDERNESS ROAD

BYRNES CHAPEL ROAD

QUARRY DRIVE

Fernwood Dr.

BLUE GRASS TRL

WEST BLUEGRASS TRL

SOUTH SCENIC HWY

RAMP A

ROUTE 0077

ROUTE 0098

WALKERS CREEK ROAD

WILDERNESS ROAD

SUITER ROAD

EAST BLUE GRASS TR

I-77 SBL

WOLF CREEK HWY

Rte 665

I-77 SBL

I-77 NBL RAMP D

SUITER ROAD

ROUTE 52

RAMP C TO SBL I-77

I-77 NBL

DINKY TRACK ROAD

US52(N.SCENIC HWY)

I-77 SBL

I-77 NBL

WILDERNESS ROAD

INDIAN VILLAGE TRL

NIDAY RD

GRAPEFIELD ROAD

WADDLETOWN ROAD

WALKERS CREEK ROAD

NORTH SCENIC HWY

I-77 SBL

WADDLETOWN ROAD

I-77 NBL

I-77 NBL

RUBYS ROAD

ROUTE 0061

WILDERNESS ROAD

KIMBERLING RD.

North Scenic Hwy.

NORTH SCENIC HWY

I-77 SBL

I-77 NBL

I-77 SBL

ROUTE 666

I-77 NBL

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