County profile · official public datasets

Montgomery County, VA

196 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.9% rated Good, 52.6% Fair, 2.6% Poor.

196
Public bridges: 44.9%
Good condition: 2.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 42%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.6%
Poor-condition share: 196
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Montgomery County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Montgomery County ranks #54 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.6%). Montgomery County, Virginia contains 196 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.9% are rated “Good,” 52.6% “Fair,” and 2.6% “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

196

Public highway bridges in Montgomery County

Good condition

44.9%

88 of 196 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52.6%

103 of 196 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.6%

5 of 196 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#54 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 196 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.9% (88)

Fair

52.6% (103)

Poor

2.6% (5)

Montgomery County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,241 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,448 crossings a day against 6,448 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 196 of 196 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.4% of Montgomery County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

91 of the 196 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 44.9% 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 72.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

ROUTE 0111 over WALNUT BRANCH, built 1936, carries 5,240 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 7,241 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

6
1930s

33
1940s

5
1950s

13
1960s

24
1970s

21
1980s

13
1990s

24
2000s

35
2010s

17
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Virginia average (1974).

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Montgomery County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.6% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Montgomery County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Bedford County	204	52%	45.1%	2.9%	1967
Botetourt County	202	29.2%	70.8%	0%	1968
Norfolk city County	199	15.6%	84.4%	0%	1979
Alleghany County	197	27.9%	68%	4.1%	1966
Montgomery County (this page)	196	44.9%	52.6%	2.6%	1975
Smyth County	190	17.9%	77.9%	4.2%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (196 bridges here).

Page County, IA · 196 bridges
Wilkin County, MN · 196 bridges
Sampson County, NC · 196 bridges
Mifflin County, PA · 196 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 196 Good 88 Fair 103 Poor 5

Good-condition bridges (88)

Sort:

Montgomery County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Montgomery County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,241 vehicle crossings a day

46.4% of Montgomery County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 72.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Montgomery 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

Good-condition bridges (88)

Mt Pleasant Rd-639

Seneca Hollow Rd

North Fork Rd / Rt

BONERS RUN RD./609

BLUE SPRINGS ROAD

11 NBL_(460EBL)

Seneca Hollow Rd

Seneca Hollow 636

RTE. 460 WBL

RTE. 460 EBL

WBL Rte 460 ByPass

Toms Crk Rd Rt 650

Meadow Crk Rd 658

Smith Creek Rd/675

Smith Creek Rd/675

PROGRESS STREET

Smith Creek Rd/675

Radford Rd.[RT 11]

Fishers View / 609

81 SBL

460Bus WBL Flyover

Rte. 781

RADFORD RD./RT 11

CraigCreekRd/621

Rte 232 Ramps A&B

Ramp I

Roanoke Road / 11

NORTH FORK ROAD

Poff School Rd/601

Den Hill Road 603

Dry Valley Rd./787

Roanoke Rd/460

Catawba Road / 785

Craig Creek Rd/621

HuckleberryRd/1218

Den Hill Rd / 603

Mill Lane

E. Mont. Lane 9257

Related