County profile · official public datasets

Culpeper County, VA

99 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.3% rated Good, 69.7% Fair, 4% Poor.

99
Public bridges: 26.3%
Good condition: 4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

72nd
of 129 on Poor share: 4%
Poor-condition share: 99
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.

Culpeper County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Culpeper County ranks #72 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4%). Culpeper County, Virginia contains 99 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.3% are rated “Good,” 69.7% “Fair,” and 4% “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 Culpeper County

Good condition

26.3%

26 of 99 rated 7-9

Fair condition

69.7%

69 of 99 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4 of 99 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#72 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 99 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

26.3% (26)

Fair

69.7% (69)

Poor

4% (4)

Culpeper County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,821 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 455 crossings a day against 3,896 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 99 of 99 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.5% of Culpeper County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

53 of the 99 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 26.3% 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 57.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Reva Road over Devils Run, built 1986, carries 1,052 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,821 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1920s

4
1930s

13
1940s

5
1950s

4
1960s

12
1970s

23
1980s

13
1990s

9
2000s

5
2010s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1971) matches the Virginia average (1974).

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Culpeper County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Culpeper County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pulaski County	105	30.5%	66.7%	2.9%	1965
Spotsylvania County	102	35.3%	64.7%	0%	1980
Culpeper County (this page)	99	26.3%	69.7%	4%	1971
Charlotte County	97	38.1%	58.8%	3.1%	1973
Giles County	96	29.2%	67.7%	3.1%	1967
Page County	96	57.3%	41.7%	1%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (99 bridges here).

Washington County, FL · 99 bridges
Crisp County, GA · 99 bridges
Harris County, GA · 99 bridges
Newton County, GA · 99 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 99 Good 26 Fair 69 Poor 4

All bridges (99)

Sort:

Culpeper County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Culpeper County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,821 vehicle crossings a day

53.5% of Culpeper County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 57.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Culpeper 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 (99)

Korea Road

Remington Road

Jamesons Mill Road

Monumental Mill Rd

Old Brandy Road

James Madison Hwy

Monumental MillsRd

Rixeyville Road

Black Hill Road

ROUTE 15/29 BUS.

Waterford Road

Locust Dale Road

Rapidan Road

Oak Shade Lane

Monumental Mill Rd

Algonquin Trail

Cedar Mountain Dr.

Eggbornsville Road

Eggbornsville Road

Dutch Hollow Road

Somerset Drive

Drogheda Mtn Road

Beverly Ford Road

NBL James Mad Hwy.

Stevensburg Road

Germanna Highway

Eggbornsville Road

James Madison Hwy.

Rte 15/29 Byp SBL

Stevensburg Road

COL. JAMESON BLVD.

Route 15/29 SBL

Route 15/29 NBL

29 Business

JamesMonroeHwy SBL

Algonquin Trail

Sperryville Pike

MT. ZION CHURCH RD

RYLAND CHAPEL RD.

Weslyn Drive

Cedar Grove Road

Edwards Shop Road

Zachary Taylor Hwy

Eleys Ford Road

Nalles Mill Road

Bel Pre Road

Germanna Hwy EBL

Lovers Lane

Germanna Hwy WBL

Rixeyville Road

Related