County profile · official public datasets

Louisa County, VA

93 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28% rated Good, 69.9% Fair, 2.2% Poor.

93
Public bridges: 28%
Good condition: 2.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 37%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.2%
Poor-condition share: 93
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.

Louisa County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Louisa County ranks #48 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.2%). Louisa County, Virginia contains 93 public highway bridges. Roughly 28% are rated “Good,” 69.9% “Fair,” and 2.2% “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 Louisa County

Good condition

28%

26 of 93 rated 7-9

Fair condition

69.9%

65 of 93 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.2%

2 of 93 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#48 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 93 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

28% (26)

Fair

69.9% (65)

Poor

2.2% (2)

Louisa County's Poor-condition bridges carry 741 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 371 crossings a day against 866 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 93 of 93 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

66.7% of Louisa County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

62 of the 93 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 28% 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 92.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Belle Meade Road over Little River, built 1985, carries 683 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 741 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

2
1940s

3
1950s

8
1960s

14
1970s

35
1980s

8
1990s

9
2000s

8
2010s

2
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 37.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Virginia average (1974).

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Louisa County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Louisa County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Charlotte County	97	38.1%	58.8%	3.1%	1973
Giles County	96	29.2%	67.7%	3.1%	1967
Page County	96	57.3%	41.7%	1%	1972
Louisa County (this page)	93	28%	69.9%	2.2%	1973
Greensville County	92	21.7%	76.1%	2.2%	1966
Lunenburg County	88	33%	52.3%	14.8%	1969

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (93 bridges here).

Baker County, FL · 93 bridges
Banks County, GA · 93 bridges
Haralson County, GA · 93 bridges
Alexander County, IL · 93 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 93 Good 26 Fair 65 Poor 2

Fair-condition bridges (65)

Sort:

Louisa County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Louisa County's Poor-condition bridges carry 741 vehicle crossings a day

66.7% of Louisa County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 92.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Louisa 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)

Nolting Road

Yanceyville Road

E Jack Jouett Road

Byrd Mill Road

Roundabout Road

Moody Town Road

Diggstown Road

Cross County Road

James Madison Hwy

Elm Avenue

GORDONSVILLE ROAD

Factory Mill Road

Cedar Hill Road

Hanback Road

Paynes Mill Road

Days Bridge Road

Mallorys Ford Road

Kentucky SpringsRd

Hickory Creek Road

Carrs Bridge Road

Moody Town Road

Kentucky SpringsRd

Zachary Taylor Hwy

Zachary Taylor Hwy

Shannon Hill Road

Cedar Hill Road

James Madison Hwy.

James Madison Hwy.

Holly Grove Road

Poindexter Road

Bibb Store Road

Bickley Road

64 EBL

64 WBL

Kentucky SpringsRd

CROSS COUNTY ROAD

Kentucky SpringsRd

DONGOLA ROAD

Louisa Road

I-64 EBL

64 WBL

Greens Corner Road

Shannon Hill Road

Courthouse Road

Court House Road

Gardner Road

Holland Creek Road

Buckner Road

Zion Road

Bethany Chruch Rd

Related