Total bridges
5
Public highway bridges in Falls Church city County
County profile · official public datasets
5 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 60% rated Good, 20% Fair, 20% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Falls Church city County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
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.
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Falls Church city County ranks #126 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 20%). Falls Church city County, Virginia contains 5 public highway bridges. Roughly 60% are rated “Good,” 20% “Fair,” and 20% “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
5
Public highway bridges in Falls Church city County
Good condition
60%
3 of 5 rated 7-9
Fair condition
20%
1 of 5 rated 5-6
Poor condition
20%
1 of 5 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#126 of 129
Among Virginia counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 5 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 11% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 20% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,000 crossings a day against 902 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 5 of 5 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
0 of the 5 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 60% 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.
SHERROW AVENUE over Tripps Run, built 1980, carries 1,000 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 1,000 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
5 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1980–1989
2 bridges
1990–1999
1 bridges
2010–2019
1 bridges
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 2 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 40% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1998, 24 years newer than the Virginia average of 1974.
The 5 Virginia counties nearest Falls Church city County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 20% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1998 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 19 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 128 Virginia counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emporia city County | 7 | 57.1% | 42.9% | 0% | 1984 |
| Fairfax city County | 7 | 42.9% | 57.1% | 0% | 1983 |
| Galax city County | 5 | 40% | 60% | 0% | 1966 |
| Hopewell city County | 5 | 80% | 20% | 0% | 1999 |
| Mathews County | 5 | 0% | 60% | 40% | 1963 |
| Falls Church city County (this page) | 5 | 60% | 20% | 20% | 1998 |
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 Falls Church city County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Over: 4 mile run
0.1MileEofLittleFallsCh, Falls Church city, VA
Over: Four Mile run
.1 M N of E Columbia Rd, Falls Church city, VA
Over: Tripps Run
0.20FRBroad, Falls Church city, VA
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
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.