Total bridges
76
Public highway bridges in Dickenson County
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.
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.
When Dickenson County's bridges were built
76 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s 6
1930–1939
6 bridges
- 1940s 2
1940–1949
2 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
15 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
10 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
16 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
12 bridges
- 1990s 6
1990–1999
6 bridges
- 2000s 4
2000–2009
4 bridges
- 2010s 3
2010–2019
3 bridges
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.
| 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.
Fair-condition bridges (69)
LAZARUS ROAD
FairOver: RUSSELL FORK RIVER
1.4 TO R652 & AT R80, Dickenson, VA
Built 1988 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 97
SPLASHDAM ROAD
FairOver: RUSSELL FORK CREEK
1.15 FR. 83; 0.15 TO END, Dickenson, VA
Built 1990 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 48
AILY ROAD
FairOver: LICK CREEK
0.01 FR 661N;0.39 TO 661S, Dickenson, VA
Built 2000 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 365
ROCK LICK ROAD
FairOver: LICK CREEK
0.0 FR R670& .40 TO R679, Dickenson, VA
Built 1997 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 136
BEARPEN RD.
FairOver: BEARPEN BRANCH
.20 Fr 631-1.60 to End, Dickenson, VA
Built 1982 Load: 68.0 t ADT: 166
LYONS FORK ROAD
FairOver: LYONS FORK CREEK
0.20 FR. 72; 1.00 TO END, Dickenson, VA
Built 1945 Load: 68.9 t ADT: 107
DR. RALPH STANLEY
FairOver: MIDDLE FORK
2.74 FR. 642; 0.06 TO 651, Dickenson, VA
Built 1980 Load: 68.9 t ADT: 825
MILL STREET
FairOver: MILL CREEK
1.9 TO R786 & AT R675, Dickenson, VA
Built 1989 Load: 69.9 t ADT: 404
ROUTE 80
FairOver: PRATER CREEK @ HAYSI
0.29 FR. 83 &; 0.05 TO 63, Dickenson, VA
Built 1957 Load: 71.7 t ADT: 3,779
HURRICANE BRANCH R
FairOver: LICK CREEK
.05M-RT670 & .15-DEAD END, Dickenson, VA
Built 2005 Load: 71.7 t ADT: 32
WAKENVA HOLLOW RD
FairOver: MCCLURE RIVER
0.01 FR 63 & .79 TO 757, Dickenson, VA
Built 1980 Load: 74.4 t ADT: 141
LOWER GEORGES FORK
FairOver: GEORGES FORK RIVER
2.65 TO R83& 2.25 TO R631, Dickenson, VA
Built 1988 Load: 80.7 t ADT: 569
INDIAN CREEK ROAD
FairOver: INDIAN CREEK
0.00 FR BCL - 0.00 TO 602, Dickenson, VA
Built 1979 Load: 85.3 t ADT: 298
ROCK LICK ROAD
FairOver: FRYING PAN CREEK
0.79 FR. 679; 0.01 TO 80, Dickenson, VA
Built 1992 Load: 86.2 t ADT: 253
LOWER GEORGES FORK
FairOver: GEORGES FORK RIVER
2.10 TO R83 & .7 TO R621, Dickenson, VA
Built 1982 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 569
FRYING PAN ROAD
FairOver: PRIEST FORK CREEK
1.69 FR 600 & .01 TO 80, Dickenson, VA
Built 1975 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 310
BRUSH CREEK ROAD
FairOver: PINE BRANCH
.25 TO R622 & .00 FR R706, Dickenson, VA
Built 1976 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 172
TEMPES BRANCH
FairOver: CRANES NEST RIVER
0.02 FR 72; 0.48 DEAD END, Dickenson, VA
Built 1915 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 101
RUSH CREEK ROAD
FairOver: CRANES NEST RIVER
1.60FRRT83;3.45TORT637, Dickenson, VA
Built 1956 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 360
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.