County profile · official public datasets

Nelson County, VA

136 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.5% rated Good, 58.1% Fair, 4.4% Poor.

136
Public bridges: 37.5%
Good condition: 4.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Nelson 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.

77th
of 129 on Poor share: 4.4%
Poor-condition share: 136
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Nelson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Nelson County ranks #77 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.4%). Nelson County, Virginia contains 136 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.5% are rated “Good,” 58.1% “Fair,” and 4.4% “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

136

Public highway bridges in Nelson County

Good condition

37.5%

51 of 136 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.1%

79 of 136 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.4%

6 of 136 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#77 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 136 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

37.5% (51)

Fair

58.1% (79)

Poor

4.4% (6)

Nelson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,087 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 348 crossings a day against 892 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 136 of 136 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

72.8% of Nelson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

99 of the 136 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 37.5% 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 48.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Roseland Road over Hat Creek, built 1963, carries 1,005 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,087 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1920s

2
1930s

18
1940s

3
1950s

5
1960s

25
1970s

55
1980s

7
1990s

5
2000s

8
2010s

4
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 55 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 40.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1968, 6 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Nelson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.4% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 5 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Nelson County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Scott County	138	20.3%	71.7%	8%	1968
Russell County	136	28.7%	65.4%	5.9%	1968
Nelson County (this page)	136	37.5%	58.1%	4.4%	1968
Henry County	135	25.2%	74.8%	0%	1972
Prince George County	132	6.8%	88.6%	4.5%	1975
Suffolk city County	132	25.8%	69.7%	4.5%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (136 bridges here).

Bullock County, AL · 136 bridges
Jackson County, AR · 136 bridges
Perry County, IL · 136 bridges
Lincoln County, KY · 136 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges

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

All 136 Good 51 Fair 79 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (79)

Sort:

Nelson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Nelson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,087 vehicle crossings a day

72.8% of Nelson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 48.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Nelson 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 (79)

Oak Ridge Road

Adial Road

River Road

Richmond Hwy.

Rockfish Valley Hy

Adial Road

James River Road

Thm Nelson Hwy NBL

Richmond Hwy.

Laurel Road

Norwood Road

Salem Road

Howardsville Rd.

Variety Mills Road

Thomas Nelson Hwy

Crabtree Falls Hwy

Edgewood Drive

Farrar Bridge Lane

T. Nelson Hwy.NBL

T. Nelson Hwy.SBL

Rockfish Valley Hw

Rockfish Valley Hw

NBL 0029

SBL T. Nelson Hwy

NBL T. Nelson Hwy

Tye Brook Road

Hickory Creek Road

Variety Mills Road

Tye River Road

Related