County profile · official public datasets

Dickenson County, VA

76 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 7.9% rated Good, 90.8% Fair, 1.3% Poor.

76
Public bridges: 7.9%
Good condition: 1.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 29%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.3%
Poor-condition share: 76
public highway bridges: 1970
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.

Dickenson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dickenson County ranks #38 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.3%). Dickenson County, Virginia contains 76 public highway bridges. Roughly 7.9% are rated “Good,” 90.8% “Fair,” and 1.3% “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 Dickenson County

Good condition

7.9%

6 of 76 rated 7-9

Fair condition

90.8%

69 of 76 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.3%

1 of 76 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#38 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 76 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

7.9% (6)

Fair

90.8% (69)

Poor

1.3% (1)

Dickenson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,070 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,070 crossings a day against 531 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 76 of 76 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

56.6% of Dickenson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

43 of the 76 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 7.9% 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

Big Ridge Road over RUSSELL FORK RIVER, built 1960, carries 1,070 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 1,070 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

6
1940s

2
1950s

15
1960s

10
1970s

16
1980s

12
1990s

6
2000s

4
2010s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 16 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1970) matches the Virginia average (1974).

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Dickenson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.3% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 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 Dickenson County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Isle of Wight County	80	30%	65%	5%	1979
Lynchburg city County	80	55%	42.5%	2.5%	1977
Madison County	80	28.8%	65%	6.3%	1971
Dickenson County (this page)	76	7.9%	90.8%	1.3%	1970
Bath County	73	26%	67.1%	6.8%	1955
Buckingham County	72	45.8%	51.4%	2.8%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (76 bridges here).

San Benito County, CA · 76 bridges
Screven County, GA · 76 bridges
Washington County, GA · 76 bridges
Wayne County, KY · 76 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1970 here).

Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges

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

All 76 Good 6 Fair 69 Poor 1

All bridges (76)

Sort:

Dickenson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Dickenson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,070 vehicle crossings a day

56.6% of Dickenson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Dickenson 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 (76)

SPILLWAY BRIDGE

LYTTON CIRCLE

BRIDGE STREET

ROUTE 0625

DANTE MTN. ROAD

BANNER STREET

Little Caney Road

RICHARD LONG ROAD

BREAKS PARK RD

DANTE MTN. ROAD

DANTE MTN. ROAD

BREAKS PARK ROAD

DICKENSON HWY

BARTLICK ROAD

LOWER GEORGES FORK

BRUSH CREEK ROAD

DOG BRANCH GAP RD

Layne Hollow Road

CHURCH STREET

ROCK LICK ROAD

COEBURN ROAD

COMMISSION CIR.

Staration Bridge

ROUTE 0624

ROUTE 83

LICK CREEK ROAD

ROUTE 601

ROUTE 0631

SANDLICK ROAD

DR. RALPH STANLEY

DANTE MTN. ROAD

BARTLEY STREET

COEBURN ROAD

FRYING PAN ROAD

DICKENSON HWY

HAMMONS ROAD

LYONS FORK RD.

DANTE MOUNTAIN RD.

SKEETROCK ROAD

LOVERS GAP ROAD

BIG RIDGE ROAD

McCLURE #1 ROAD

ROUTE 83

KILLEN LANE

BARTLICK ROAD

CARTER STANLEY HWY

ROCK HOUSE RD.

ROUTE 0688

SR-780 SHIFTY LANE

LOWER GEORGE FK RD

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