County profile · official public datasets

Orange County, VA

71 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.8% rated Good, 70.4% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

71
Public bridges: 26.8%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 46%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 71
public highway bridges: 1970
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.

Orange County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Orange County ranks #59 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Orange County, Virginia contains 71 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.8% are rated “Good,” 70.4% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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 Orange County

Good condition

26.8%

19 of 71 rated 7-9

Fair condition

70.4%

50 of 71 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

2 of 71 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#59 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 71 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

26.8% (19)

Fair

70.4% (50)

Poor

2.8% (2)

Orange County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,084 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,042 crossings a day against 2,156 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 71 of 71 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

67.6% of Orange County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

48 of the 71 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 26.8% 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 94% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Flat Run Road over Flat Run, built 1993, carries 1,960 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 2,084 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

3
1940s

8
1950s

7
1960s

17
1970s

12
1980s

8
1990s

11
2000s

2
2010s

1
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 17 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1970) matches the Virginia average (1974).

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Orange County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 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 Orange County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dickenson County	76	7.9%	90.8%	1.3%	1970
Bath County	73	26%	67.1%	6.8%	1955
Buckingham County	72	45.8%	51.4%	2.8%	1971
Orange County (this page)	71	26.8%	70.4%	2.8%	1970
Appomattox County	68	45.6%	52.9%	1.5%	1975
Nottoway County	67	35.8%	59.7%	4.5%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (71 bridges here).

Rio Grande County, CO · 71 bridges
Charlton County, GA · 71 bridges
Madison County, GA · 71 bridges
Taylor County, GA · 71 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1970 here).

Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges

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

All 71 Good 19 Fair 50 Poor 2

All bridges (71)

Sort:

Orange County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Orange County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,084 vehicle crossings a day

67.6% of Orange County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 94% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Orange 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 (71)

Liberty Mills Road

Hawfield Road

Jacksontown Road

Gov Barbour Street

Constitution Hwy

Constitution Hwy.

Sunnyside Road

Pine Stake Road

Old Office Road

Spicers Mill Road

Old Gville Road

Old Gordnsville Rd

Orange Springs Rd

Albano Road

Vineyard Road

BELLEVIEW AVENUE

Cox Mill Road

James Madison Hwy

Zoar Road

Old Office Road

Blue Ridge Tnpk

Zachary Taylor Hwy

Spotswood Trail

Zachary Taylor Hwy

Lahore Road

Lahore Road

Marquis Lane

Everona Road

Pine Stake Road

Orange Springs Rd

Marquis Road

Madison Run Road

Weyburn Road

Constitution Hwy

Blue Ridge Tpk.

Blue Ridge Turnpke

Rapidan Road

Cox Mill Road

Blue Run Road

Marquis Road

Matthews Mill Road

Terrys Run Road

Rapidan Road

Monrovia Road

Tower Road

Zachary Taylor Hwy

SBL James Mad Hwy

Constitution Hwy.

Indiantown Road

Scuffletown Road

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