County profile · official public datasets

Fauquier County, VA

229 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38% rated Good, 60.7% Fair, 1.3% Poor.

229
Public bridges: 38%
Good condition: 1.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 29%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.3%
Poor-condition share: 229
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.

Fauquier County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fauquier County ranks #37 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.3%). Fauquier County, Virginia contains 229 public highway bridges. Roughly 38% are rated “Good,” 60.7% “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

229

Public highway bridges in Fauquier County

Good condition

38%

87 of 229 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60.7%

139 of 229 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.3%

3 of 229 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#37 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 229 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38% (87)

Fair

60.7% (139)

Poor

1.3% (3)

Fauquier County's Poor-condition bridges carry 905 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 302 crossings a day against 5,529 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 229 of 229 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

52.4% of Fauquier County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

120 of the 229 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 38% 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 79.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Maidstone Road over Branch Goose Creek, built 1957, carries 723 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 905 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

4
1920s

8
1930s

19
1940s

11
1950s

31
1960s

38
1970s

53
1980s

18
1990s

25
2000s

8
2010s

12
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 53 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.1% 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 Fauquier County compares with Virginia's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Fauquier County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.3% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1967 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Fauquier County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Rockbridge County	255	31%	65.5%	3.5%	1964
Fauquier County (this page)	229	38%	60.7%	1.3%	1970
Shenandoah County	213	45.5%	54%	0.5%	1967
Bedford County	204	52%	45.1%	2.9%	1967
Roanoke County	204	37.7%	62.3%	0%	1969
Tazewell County	204	21.6%	74%	4.4%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (229 bridges here).

Walton County, FL · 229 bridges
Aroostook County, ME · 229 bridges
Stearns County, MN · 229 bridges
Itawamba County, MS · 229 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 229 Good 87 Fair 139 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (87)

Sort:

Fauquier County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Fauquier County's Poor-condition bridges carry 905 vehicle crossings a day

52.4% of Fauquier County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 79.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fauquier 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

Good-condition bridges (87)

Courthouse Road

Elk Run Road

Turkey Run Road

James Madison Hwy

17 NBL & SBL

I-66 EBL & WBL

Rogues Road

Shenandoah Path

Hume Road

Kennedy Road

Kelly Road

Delaplane Grade Rd

Free State Road

Keyser Road

BLACKWELL ROAD

ROUTE 0211

Oak Shade Road

Burwell Road

Fiery Run Road

Rmp15BusN-15BypS

Ramp17SpurS to15N

Falling Creek Dr

Whipkey Drive

Southcoate Vill Dr

Conde Road

OLD MARSH ROAD

HI ROCK RIDGE ROAD

James Madison Hwy

Ritchie Road

15/29 Bypass NBL

17 NBL&SBL&SBLRamp

Marsh Road

Moffett Drive

Tapps Ford Road

Rock Hill Mill Rd

Opal Road

15/29 Bypass SBL

Dumfries Road

James Madison Hwy

Cliff Mills Road

Lee Highway WBL

Catlett Road

Shenandoah Path

Eustace Road

Riley Road

Leeds Manor Road

Sillamon Road

Frytown Road

Old CartersMill Rd

Leeds Manor Road

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