Total bridges
8
Public highway bridges in Lexington city County
County profile · official public datasets
8 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25% rated Good, 62.5% Fair, 12.5% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Lexington city County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older 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, Lexington city County ranks #120 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.5%). Lexington city County, Virginia contains 8 public highway bridges. Roughly 25% are rated “Good,” 62.5% “Fair,” and 12.5% “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
8
Public highway bridges in Lexington city County
Good condition
25%
2 of 8 rated 7-9
Fair condition
62.5%
5 of 8 rated 5-6
Poor condition
12.5%
1 of 8 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#120 of 129
Among Virginia counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 8 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 7.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,031 crossings a day against 3,886 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 8 of 8 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
6 of the 8 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 25% 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.
LIME KILN ROAD over WOODS CREEK, built 1978, carries 2,031 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 2,031 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
8 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1920–1929
2 bridges
1930–1939
1 bridges
1950–1959
2 bridges
1960–1969
1 bridges
1970–1979
1 bridges
2010–2019
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1920s, when 2 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 95 to 104 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1956, 18 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.
The 5 Virginia counties nearest Lexington city County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1956 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is 16 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 128 Virginia counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colonial Heights city County | 9 | 0% | 88.9% | 11.1% | 1986 |
| Lancaster County | 9 | 22.2% | 66.7% | 11.1% | 1959 |
| Covington city County | 8 | 37.5% | 50% | 12.5% | 1962 |
| Winchester city County | 8 | 12.5% | 75% | 12.5% | 1969 |
| Lexington city County (this page) | 8 | 25% | 62.5% | 12.5% | 1956 |
| Emporia city County | 7 | 57.1% | 42.9% | 0% | 1984 |
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 Lexington city County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Over: MILL RACE
0008DEAD END 001211 S, Lexington city, VA
Over: WOODS CREEK
0010DEAD END 001011 S, Lexington city, VA
Over: SARAHS RUN
0010HAMRIC ST0003THORNHL, Lexington city, VA
Over: ROUTE 11-Bypass
0.09 11 BYPASS-0.90 RT 60, Lexington city, VA
Over: WOODS CREEK/TRAIL
.98 ECL LEX & .47 WCL LEX, Lexington 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.