County profile · official public datasets

Franklin County, VA

174 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.5% rated Good, 55.2% Fair, 2.3% Poor.

174
Public bridges
42.5%
Good condition
2.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Franklin County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 39%
lowest Poor share in state
2.3%
Poor-condition share
174
public highway bridges
1966
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.

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Franklin County ranks #50 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.3%). Franklin County, Virginia contains 174 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.5% are rated “Good,” 55.2% “Fair,” and 2.3% “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

174

Public highway bridges in Franklin County

Good condition

42.5%

74 of 174 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.2%

96 of 174 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.3%

4 of 174 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#50 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 174 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
42.5% (74)
Fair
55.2% (96)
Poor
2.3% (4)

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,233 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 808 crossings a day against 993 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 174 of 174 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

67.8% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

118 of the 174 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 42.5% 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 42.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Callaway Rd 641 over Blackwater River, built 1932, carries 1,381 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 3,233 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Franklin County's bridges were built

174 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 44 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 8 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Franklin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.3% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 5 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Franklin County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Washington County 186 1.1%
Arlington County 183 3.8%
Wythe County 181 3.3%
Franklin County (this page) 174 2.3%
Frederick County 168 2.4%
Wise County 165 1.8%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (174 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1966 here).

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

All 174 Good 74 Fair 96 Poor 4

Good-condition bridges (74)

Walker Rd. 651

Good

Over: Snow Creek

1.50 RT 629; 0.50 RT 611, Franklin, VA

Built 1991 Load: 58.1 t ADT: 63

CRLINA SPRNG RD734

Good

Over: BLACKWATER RIVER

1.20 RT 737; 1.80 RT 709, Franklin, VA

Built 1971 Load: 58.1 t ADT: 1,271

INGHRAMVILLE RD623

Good

Over: NICHOLAS CREEK

0.50 RT 605; 0.65 RT 784, Franklin, VA

Built 1995 Load: 58.1 t ADT: 658

Rock Ridge Rd 640

Good

Over: South Prong

0.80 RT 751; 0.20 RT 602, Franklin, VA

Built 1987 Load: 59.0 t ADT: 177

Dry Hill Rd 788

Good

Over: Tharp Creek

0.30 RT 637; 1.20 RT 789, Franklin, VA

Built 1990 Load: 59.0 t ADT: 97

Brick Church Rd697

Good

Over: Teel Creek

0.60 RT 710; 0.55 RT 919, Franklin, VA

Built 1981 Load: 60.8 t ADT: 966

Terrace Rd 1612

Good

Over: Maggodee Creek

0.00 RT 684; 0.04 RT 1613, Franklin, VA

Built 1969 Load: 60.8 t ADT: 131

Runnett Bag Rd 793

Good

Over: Roaring Run

0.10 RT 792; 0.80 RT 836, Franklin, VA

Built 1961 Load: 61.7 t ADT: 71

RhododendronDr 850

Good

Over: N Fork Blackwater River

0.20 RT 643; 0.40 End MT, Franklin, VA

Built 1996 Load: 63.5 t ADT: 88

Starlight Rd. /750

Good

Over: South Prong Pigg River

0.40 RT 751; 0.45 RT 751, Franklin, VA

Built 1970 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 56

Whetstone Rd./751

Good

Over: Turners Creek

0.10 RT 602; 1.00 RT 752, Franklin, VA

Built 1967 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 71

Guthrie Road 852

Good

Over: Maggodee Creek

0.00 RT 613; 0.50 End Mnt, Franklin, VA

Built 2005 Load: 65.3 t ADT: 65

Greenway Rd 704

Good

Over: Maple Branch

0.10 RT 705; 0.90 RT 702, Franklin, VA

Built 1965 Load: 66.2 t ADT: 239

ROUTE 0220

Good

Over: NS RAILWAY @

2.14 TO 220 & 0.02 TO 40, Franklin, VA

Built 1981 Load: 66.2 t ADT: 9,375

Ramp A/220NBL

Good

Over: Norfolk Southern RR

0.05 Rt 40; 0.15 Rt 220, Franklin, VA

Built 2001 Load: 66.2 t ADT: 2,004

Prilliman Swit 767

Good

Over: Town Creek

0.60 RT 690; 2.30 RT 887, Franklin, VA

Built 1932 Load: 67.1 t ADT: 443

Muddy Fork Rd 618

Good

Over: Reed Creek

1.00 RT 632; 4.20 RT 220, Franklin, VA

Built 1982 Load: 68.0 t ADT: 380

DUGSPUR RD 742

Good

Over: BLACKWATER RIVER

0.12 RT 643; 0.80 RT 743, Franklin, VA

Built 1984 Load: 68.9 t ADT: 232

Dry Hill Rd 788

Good

Over: Tharp Creek

0.05 RT 637; 1.40 RT 789, Franklin, VA

Built 1932 Load: 69.9 t ADT: 97

CUSTERS RDG RD 738

Good

Over: N. FRK BLACKWATER RIV.

0.10 RT 808; 1.30 RT 742, Franklin, VA

Built 1986 Load: 70.8 t ADT: 191

Truevine Rd. / 646

Good

Over: Snow Creek

0.60 RT 625; 0.80 RT 629, Franklin, VA

Built 2000 Load: 70.8 t ADT: 391

Gilmer Br. Rd 692

Good

Over: Maggodee Creek

0.40 RT 684; 2.00 RT 691, Franklin, VA

Built 1999 Load: 74.4 t ADT: 244

COLONIAL TNPK 718

Good

Over: PIGG RIVER

0.15 RT 715;1.00 RT 646, Franklin, VA

Built 2021 Load: 78.0 t ADT: 500

Carolina Sp R 734

Good

Over: Hay Run

2.30 RT 737; 0.70 RT 709, Franklin, VA

Built 1995 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 1,271

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.