County profile · official public datasets

Buchanan County, VA

283 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 12% rated Good, 83.4% Fair, 4.6% Poor.

283
Public bridges: 12%
Good condition: 4.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Buchanan 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.

81st
of 129 on Poor share: 4.6%
Poor-condition share: 283
public highway bridges: 1967
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.

Buchanan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Buchanan County ranks #81 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.6%). Buchanan County, Virginia contains 283 public highway bridges. Roughly 12% are rated “Good,” 83.4% “Fair,” and 4.6% “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

283

Public highway bridges in Buchanan County

Good condition

12%

34 of 283 rated 7-9

Fair condition

83.4%

236 of 283 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.6%

13 of 283 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#81 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 283 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

12% (34)

Fair

83.4% (236)

Poor

4.6% (13)

Buchanan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,864 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 528 crossings a day against 809 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 283 of 283 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.2% of Buchanan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

142 of the 283 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 12% 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 28.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

OLD ROCKLICK RD. over LEVISA RIVER, built 1966, carries 1,973 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,864 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

94
1940s

3
1950s

5
1960s

26
1970s

40
1980s

53
1990s

15
2000s

23
2010s

20
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 94 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 33.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1967, 7 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Buchanan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Buchanan County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Prince William County	303	54.5%	44.2%	1.3%	1989
Rockingham County	288	53.1%	43.8%	3.1%	1972
Buchanan County (this page)	283	12%	83.4%	4.6%	1967
Pittsylvania County	267	40.8%	53.9%	5.2%	1977
Albemarle County	262	34.4%	63.7%	1.9%	1962
Rockbridge County	255	31%	65.5%	3.5%	1964

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (283 bridges here).

Forrest County, MS · 283 bridges
Ashland County, OH · 283 bridges
Cooke County, TX · 283 bridges
Logan County, OK · 284 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1967 here).

Los Angeles County, CA · avg 1967 · 3,547 bridges
Allegheny County, PA · avg 1967 · 1,294 bridges
Sonoma County, CA · avg 1967 · 609 bridges
Merced County, CA · avg 1967 · 528 bridges

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

All 283 Good 34 Fair 236 Poor 13

All bridges (283)

Sort:

Buchanan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Buchanan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,864 vehicle crossings a day

50.2% of Buchanan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 28.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Buchanan 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 (283)

Drakes Fork Rd

Red Wing Rd.

Shortridge Br. Rd.

Bamboo Rd

GREAT OAKS RD.

Clear Creek Rd.

Cornerstone Rd.

Stiltners Creek R

Melody Road

May Branch Rd

Red Dirt Rd.

Riverside Drive

HOOT OWL RD.

Wilderness Road

Maxwell Bottom

Dogwood Drive

J.J. Bridge Rd.

Razor Back Rd.

Razor Back Rd.

Polar Circle

Lockhart Bridge Rd

Tester Bridge

Helen Henderson HW

LESTERS FORK ROAD

Woodcrest Rd.

Estep Bridge Rd.

HELEN HENDERSON HW

Herman Justus Rd.

Byrd Road

Malachi Road

Winter Rd.

D.A. Justus Rd.

PRIVATE ENTRANCE

GARDEN CREEK RD.

Trivett Rd.

GOLDEN WAVE DR.

MEETING HOUSE RD

RIVERVIEW ST

BREAKS PARK RD

HELEN HENDERSON HW

Lovers Gap Road

SLATE CREEK RD.

RIVERSIDE DR.

RIVERSIDE DR.

NANCE FORK CIRCLE

Old Kent. Turnpike

Garden Creek Road

Garden Creek Road

Garden Creek Road

CHAMBERS ROAD

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