County profile · official public datasets

Lee County, VA

153 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 22.9% rated Good, 69.3% Fair, 7.8% Poor.

153
Public bridges: 22.9%
Good condition: 7.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

105th
of 129 on Poor share: 7.8%
Poor-condition share: 153
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Lee County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lee County ranks #105 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.8%). Lee County, Virginia contains 153 public highway bridges. Roughly 22.9% are rated “Good,” 69.3% “Fair,” and 7.8% “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

153

Public highway bridges in Lee County

Good condition

22.9%

35 of 153 rated 7-9

Fair condition

69.3%

106 of 153 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.8%

12 of 153 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#105 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 153 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

22.9% (35)

Fair

69.3% (106)

Poor

7.8% (12)

Lee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,173 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,098 crossings a day against 2,466 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 153 of 153 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

44.4% of Lee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

68 of the 153 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 22.9% 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 70.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

ROUTE 23 SBL over NORFORK&SOUTHERN RAILWAY, built 1975, carries 9,292 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 13,173 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

34
1940s

3
1950s

4
1960s

23
1970s

15
1980s

19
1990s

27
2000s

22
2010s

5
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 34 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Virginia average (1974).

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Lee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lee County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Mecklenburg County	160	31.3%	63.1%	5.6%	1974
Amherst County	157	38.9%	56.1%	5.1%	1972
Campbell County	153	49%	51%	0%	1979
Lee County (this page)	153	22.9%	69.3%	7.8%	1973
Brunswick County	152	23.7%	69.7%	6.6%	1969
Dinwiddie County	151	9.3%	82.8%	7.9%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (153 bridges here).

Sussex County, DE · 153 bridges
Jefferson County, IN · 153 bridges
Harrison County, KY · 153 bridges
Roger Mills County, OK · 153 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 153 Good 35 Fair 106 Poor 12

Fair-condition bridges (106)

Sort:

Lee County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,173 vehicle crossings a day

44.4% of Lee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 70.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lee 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 (106)

Sigma Road

ROUTE 616

ROUTE 600

ROUTE 0672

MiddleWallensCk Rd

MARTIN CREEK RD.

ROUTE 58

Lick Branch Road

ROUTE 764

RAWHIDE LOOP

ROUTE 682

ROUTE 738

Delvale Road

ROUTE 743

ROUTE 0058

ROUTE 421

ROUTE 0656

Roy Crocket

Reeds Creek Rd.

58

ROUTE 0058

ROUTE 946

ROUTE 0058

ROUTE 58

ROUTE 70

ROUTE 70

ROUTE 421

A.J. OSBORNE ROAD

ROUTE 0621

ROUTE 621

REED CREEK

Bonny Blue Road

ROUTE 839

Balls Chapel Road

ROUTE 58

ROUTE 0748

ROUTE 733

ROUTE 642

ROUTE 809

ROUTE 58

Route 58

ROUTE 879

ROUTE 58

ROUTE 691

ROUTE 738

ROUTE 0352

ROUTE 644

ROUTE 421

ROUTE 611

ROUTE 0676

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