County profile · official public datasets

Covington city County, VA

8 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.5% rated Good, 50% Fair, 12.5% Poor.

8
Public bridges
37.5%
Good condition
12.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Covington 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.

119th
of 129 on Poor share
12.5%
Poor-condition share
8
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.

Covington city County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Covington city County ranks #119 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.5%). Covington city County, Virginia contains 8 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.5% are rated “Good,” 50% “Fair,” and 12.5% “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

8

Public highway bridges in Covington city County

Good condition

37.5%

3 of 8 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50%

4 of 8 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.5%

1 of 8 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#119 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 8 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
37.5% (3)
Fair
50% (4)
Poor
12.5% (1)

Covington city County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,969 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,969 crossings a day against 4,588 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 8 of 8 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

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

4 of the 8 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 37.5% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RAYON DR over JACKSON RIVER, built 1950, carries 2,969 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,969 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Covington city County's bridges were built

8 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 3 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 37.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1962, 12 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Covington city County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1962 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 9 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Covington city County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Colonial Heights city County 9 11.1%
Lancaster County 9 11.1%
Lexington city County 8 12.5%
Winchester city County 8 12.5%
Covington city County (this page) 8 12.5%
Emporia city County 7 0%

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 Covington city County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

Good-condition bridges (3)

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.