County profile · official public datasets

Mecklenburg County, VA

160 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 31.3% rated Good, 63.1% Fair, 5.6% Poor.

160
Public bridges: 31.3%
Good condition: 5.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

89th
of 129 on Poor share: 5.6%
Poor-condition share: 160
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Mecklenburg County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Mecklenburg County ranks #89 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.6%). Mecklenburg County, Virginia contains 160 public highway bridges. Roughly 31.3% are rated “Good,” 63.1% “Fair,” and 5.6% “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

160

Public highway bridges in Mecklenburg County

Good condition

31.3%

50 of 160 rated 7-9

Fair condition

63.1%

101 of 160 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.6%

9 of 160 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#89 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 160 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

31.3% (50)

Fair

63.1% (101)

Poor

5.6% (9)

Mecklenburg County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,835 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,093 crossings a day against 1,673 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 160 of 160 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

63.1% of Mecklenburg County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

101 of the 160 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 31.3% 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 72.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SBL ROUTE I-85 over ROANOKE RIVER, built 1964, carries 13,728 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 18,835 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

2
1940s

2
1950s

37
1960s

43
1970s

19
1980s

7
1990s

11
2000s

28
2010s

7
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Virginia average (1974).

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Mecklenburg County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Mecklenburg County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wise County	165	24.2%	73.9%	1.8%	1974
Carroll County	161	41.6%	57.1%	1.2%	1971
Halifax County	161	36%	57.1%	6.8%	1976
Hanover County	161	19.9%	76.4%	3.7%	1975
Mecklenburg County (this page)	160	31.3%	63.1%	5.6%	1974
Amherst County	157	38.9%	56.1%	5.1%	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 Mecklenburg 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 Mecklenburg County, both outside Virginia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (160 bridges here).

Clay County, KY · 160 bridges
Kittson County, MN · 160 bridges
Rio Arriba County, NM · 160 bridges
Delaware County, OK · 160 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 160 Good 50 Fair 101 Poor 9

All bridges (160)

Sort:

Mecklenburg County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Mecklenburg County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,835 vehicle crossings a day

63.1% of Mecklenburg County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 72.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Mecklenburg 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

All bridges (160)

REDLAWN ROAD

DRAPER ROAD

LONE OAK ROAD

EUREKA ROAD

HWY FIFTY-EIGHT

NBL ROUTE 0085

OLD COX ROAD

RTE 15; 49 & 58BY

RED GATE ROAD

HWY FIFTY-EIGHT

MILES CREEK ROAD

STONY CROSS ROAD

PASCHALL RD.

PASCHALL ROAD

HANFORD ROAD

ROUTE I-85 NBL

ANTLERS ROAD

ROUTE I-85 SBL

HWY-FIFTYEIGHT WB

HWY FIFTY-EIGHT

HIGHWAY 903

U.S. 58 (EBL)

CRAIG MILL ROAD

ROUTE I-85 SBL

HWY FIFTY-EIGHT

U.S. 58 (WBL)

I-85 NBL

WBL ROUTE 0058

WEST 2ND STREET

U.S. 58 (WBL)

U.S. 58 (WBL)

SBL ROUTE 0085

PRISON ROAD

U.S. 58 (EBL)

DIXIE BRIDGE ROAD

U.S. 58 (WBL)

U. S. 58 (WBL)

ROCKY BRANCH ROAD

U. S. 1

HWY-NINE-O-THREE

MAREGNO ROAD

U.S. 58 (WBL)

ROUTE 0138

U.S. 58 (WBL)

U.S. 58 (EBL)

NBL ROUTE 0085

U.S. 58 (EBL)

U.S. 58

PRISON ROAD

U.S. 58

Related