County profile · official public datasets

Buckingham County, VA

72 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.8% rated Good, 51.4% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

72
Public bridges: 45.8%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Buckingham County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

Top 44%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 72
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Buckingham County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Buckingham County ranks #57 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Buckingham County, Virginia contains 72 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.8% are rated “Good,” 51.4% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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 Buckingham County

Good condition

45.8%

33 of 72 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.4%

37 of 72 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

2 of 72 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#57 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 72 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45.8% (33)

Fair

51.4% (37)

Poor

2.8% (2)

Buckingham County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,110 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,555 crossings a day against 923 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 72 of 72 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

65.3% of Buckingham County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

47 of the 72 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 45.8% 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 84.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

E. J. Anderson Hwy over Whispering Creek, built 1931, carries 2,631 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,110 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

9
1940s

2
1950s

4
1960s

23
1970s

16
1980s

5
1990s

4
2000s

1
2010s

4
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1971) matches the Virginia average (1974).

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Buckingham County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Buckingham County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dickenson County	76	7.9%	90.8%	1.3%	1970
Bath County	73	26%	67.1%	6.8%	1955
Buckingham County (this page)	72	45.8%	51.4%	2.8%	1971
Orange County	71	26.8%	70.4%	2.8%	1970
Appomattox County	68	45.6%	52.9%	1.5%	1975
Nottoway County	67	35.8%	59.7%	4.5%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (72 bridges here).

Lafayette County, AR · 72 bridges
Tattnall County, GA · 72 bridges
Wilkinson County, GA · 72 bridges
Kearny County, KS · 72 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges

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

All 72 Good 33 Fair 37 Poor 2

Fair-condition bridges (37)

Sort:

Buckingham County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Buckingham County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,110 vehicle crossings a day

65.3% of Buckingham County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 84.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Buckingham 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

Fair-condition bridges (37)

Paynes Pond Rd.

Wooldridge Road

Pattie Road

Tower Hill Road

Belle Branch Road

Randolph Creek Rd

Maple Bridge Road

Forest Clay Rd.

Manteo Road

Howardsville Rd.

Sharps Creek Rd

Chellowe Rd.

Constitution Route

High Rock Rd.

Constitution Route

James Anderson Hy.

Diana Mill Rd.

Rock Mill Rd.

Muddy Creek Rd

Constitution Route

James Anderson Hwy

Perkins Mill Rd.

Little Creek Rd.

Mt. Rush Highway

Union Church Rd.

St. Andrews Rd.

Cutbanks Road

Buffalo Road

Watoga Road

Dixie Hill Rd.

Bridgeport Road

Cromptown Road

Melita Road

Route 15

Penlan Road

S. James River Rd.

Forbes Road

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