County profile · official public datasets

Giles County, VA

96 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.2% rated Good, 67.7% Fair, 3.1% Poor.

96
Public bridges: 29.2%
Good condition: 3.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Giles 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 50%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.1%
Poor-condition share: 96
public highway bridges: 1967
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.

Giles County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Giles County ranks #64 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.1%). Giles County, Virginia contains 96 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.2% are rated “Good,” 67.7% “Fair,” and 3.1% “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 Giles County

Good condition

29.2%

28 of 96 rated 7-9

Fair condition

67.7%

65 of 96 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.1%

3 of 96 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#64 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 96 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29.2% (28)

Fair

67.7% (65)

Poor

3.1% (3)

Giles County's Poor-condition bridges carry 714 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 238 crossings a day against 1,882 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 96 of 96 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

57.3% of Giles County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

55 of the 96 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 29.2% 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 82.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SinkingCreekRd/772 over Sinking Creek, built 1967, carries 588 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 714 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

5
1930s

21
1940s

2
1950s

5
1960s

12
1970s

19
1980s

13
1990s

7
2000s

9
2010s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 21 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1967, 7 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Giles County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.1% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 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 Giles County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Culpeper County	99	26.3%	69.7%	4%	1971
Charlotte County	97	38.1%	58.8%	3.1%	1973
Page County	96	57.3%	41.7%	1%	1972
Giles County (this page)	96	29.2%	67.7%	3.1%	1967
Louisa County	93	28%	69.9%	2.2%	1973
Greensville County	92	21.7%	76.1%	2.2%	1966

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (96 bridges here).

Del Norte County, CA · 96 bridges
Routt County, CO · 96 bridges
Blaine County, ID · 96 bridges
Clare County, MI · 96 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1967 here).

Los Angeles County, CA · avg 1967 · 3,547 bridges
Allegheny County, PA · avg 1967 · 1,294 bridges
Sonoma County, CA · avg 1967 · 609 bridges
Merced County, CA · avg 1967 · 528 bridges

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

All 96 Good 28 Fair 65 Poor 3

Fair-condition bridges (65)

Sort:

Giles County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Giles County's Poor-condition bridges carry 714 vehicle crossings a day

57.3% of Giles County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 82.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Giles 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

Fair-condition bridges (65)

CHANEY RD./ RT 675

Trivett Farm Rd759

Morehead Road /760

FLAT HOLLOW RD/670

DISMAL CREEK ROAD

Elgood Mtn. Rd/648

Cascade Drive 623

MT LAKE RD/700

SNIDERTOWN RD./781

460 WBL/ Va. Ave.

Gravely Hill Rd720

STEELE ACRES RD770

RIVER RD/623

Park Drive / 61

ROUTE 0649

VIRGINIA AVE.

Main Street 460

Main Street 460

Main Street / 460

Main Street / 460

Brick Yard Rd./608

Old Furnace Rd/703

OldWolk Crk Rd/724

Sugar Run Road/663

BUTT MOUNTAIN ROAD

CloverHollowrd/601

EBL ROUTE 0460

RTE. 460 BUS

Wolf Creek Rd/61

Spruce Run / 605

Wolf Creek Rd/61

OldThessaliaRd/663

ROUTE 0460

WBL ROUTE 0460

Hendrickson Rd 688

EBL RTE. 460

EGGLESTON RD/730

WBL ROUTE 0460

Guinea Mtn Rd./622

BranchCreekRd/629

Zells Mill Rd./604

Nellies Lane / 755

Old Wolf Crk Rd724

PUL/GILESTPK/RT100

EBL ROUTE 0460

Snidow St./1404

WBL ROUTE 0460

WBL ROUTE 0460

Virginia Ave. 460E

WBL ROUTE 0460

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