County profile · official public datasets

Bristol city County, VA

34 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.3% rated Good, 50% Fair, 14.7% Poor.

34
Public bridges: 35.3%
Good condition: 14.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Bristol city 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.

122nd
of 129 on Poor share: 14.7%
Poor-condition share: 34
public highway bridges: 1954
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.

Bristol city County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bristol city County ranks #122 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 14.7%). Bristol city County, Virginia contains 34 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.3% are rated “Good,” 50% “Fair,” and 14.7% “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

Public highway bridges in Bristol city County

Good condition

35.3%

12 of 34 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50%

17 of 34 rated 5-6

Poor condition

14.7%

5 of 34 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#122 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 34 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35.3% (12)

Fair

50% (17)

Poor

14.7% (5)

Bristol city County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,634 vehicle crossings a day

That is 10.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 14.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,127 crossings a day against 4,915 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 34 of 34 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

76.5% of Bristol city County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

26 of the 34 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 35.3% 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 33.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

M.L.K. JR. BLVD. over BEAVER CREEK, built 1930, carries 5,234 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 15,634 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

3
1930s

13
1940s

1
1950s

3
1960s

2
1970s

3
1980s

3
1990s

2
2000s

1
2010s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 13 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 38.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1954, 20 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Bristol city County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 14.7% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1954 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 23 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bristol city County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Essex County	37	21.6%	73%	5.4%	1980
Harrisonburg city County	34	44.1%	41.2%	14.7%	1977
Powhatan County	34	20.6%	73.5%	5.9%	1977
Bristol city County (this page)	34	35.3%	50%	14.7%	1954
King and Queen County	32	31.3%	59.4%	9.4%	1977
King William County	32	25%	75%	0%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (34 bridges here).

Bear Lake County, ID · 34 bridges
Plaquemines County, LA · 34 bridges
Golden Valley County, ND · 34 bridges
Guayanilla County, PR · 34 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1954 here).

Glenn County, CA · avg 1954 · 242 bridges
Graham County, AZ · avg 1954 · 179 bridges
Menard County, TX · avg 1954 · 63 bridges
Foard County, TX · avg 1954 · 60 bridges

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

All 34 Good 12 Fair 17 Poor 5

All bridges (34)

Sort:

Bristol city County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bristol city County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,634 vehicle crossings a day

76.5% of Bristol city County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 33.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bristol city 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 (34)

FAIRVIEW ST.

MARY STREET

VALLEY DRIVE

MCCHESNEY DR.

ELM STREET

MOORE STREET

N. PINECREST LANE

WASHINGTON STREET

ISLAND ROAD

RT.381 COMMONWLTH

CLEAR CREEK RD

EUCLID AVE.

BONHAM ROAD

OLD ABINGDON HWY

LEE STREET

SPURGEON LANE

ISLAND ROAD

STATE STREET

VIRGINIA STREET

LEE HIGHWAY

Alexis Drive

BOB MORRISON BLVD.

WILLIAMS STREET

INDUSTRIAL ACC RD.

BENHAMS ROAD

Resting Tree Drive

COLUMBIA AVENUE

OLD AIRPORT ROAD

LINDEN_DRIVE

OAK STREET

MARY STREET

GOODSON STREET

M.L.K. JR. BLVD.

PIEDMONT AVE.

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