County profile · official public datasets

Patrick County, VA

145 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.2% rated Good, 60% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

145
Public bridges: 37.2%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Patrick County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 43%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 145
public highway bridges: 1966
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.

Patrick County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Patrick County ranks #56 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Patrick County, Virginia contains 145 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.2% are rated “Good,” 60% “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

145

Public highway bridges in Patrick County

Good condition

37.2%

54 of 145 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60%

87 of 145 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

4 of 145 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#56 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 145 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

37.2% (54)

Fair

60% (87)

Poor

2.8% (4)

Patrick County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,939 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,735 crossings a day against 1,056 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 145 of 145 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

70.3% of Patrick County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

102 of the 145 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 37.2% 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 61.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

So Main St/Rte 8 over Mayo River, built 1941, carries 4,266 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,939 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

5
1930s

19
1940s

13
1950s

8
1960s

36
1970s

26
1980s

13
1990s

7
2000s

12
2010s

4
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 36 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 8 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Patrick County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 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 Patrick County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Brunswick County	152	23.7%	69.7%	6.6%	1969
Dinwiddie County	151	9.3%	82.8%	7.9%	1972
Grayson County	145	16.6%	78.6%	4.8%	1964
Southampton County	145	49%	49%	2.1%	1973
Patrick County (this page)	145	37.2%	60%	2.8%	1966
Scott County	138	20.3%	71.7%	8%	1968

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (145 bridges here).

Dearborn County, IN · 145 bridges
Floyd County, IN · 145 bridges
McDonald County, MO · 145 bridges
Lenoir County, NC · 145 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1966 here).

Butler County, KS · avg 1966 · 591 bridges
Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges

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

All 145 Good 54 Fair 87 Poor 4

All bridges (145)

Sort:

Patrick County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Patrick County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,939 vehicle crossings a day

70.3% of Patrick County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 61.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Patrick 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 (145)

Abram Penn Hwy/626

River Rd./Rte.631

Golf Course Rd 832

Palmetto Sch Rd825

UNION BRIDGE

Poorhouse Cr.Rd642

Johnson Cr Rd/672

Letcher Lane/749

Route 58

Charity Hwy. 40

Charity Hwy/Rte.40

Jeb Stuart Hwy/58

Ayers OrchardRd653

CHARITY HIGHWAY/40

East Fork Rd 676

Willis Gap Rd. 677

WoolwineHwy/Rte.8

Dry Pond Hwy/103

Five Forks Rd 660

Ahart Ridge Rd 676

WOOLWINE HIGHWAY

Elamsville RD./618

Poplar Drive / 727

Ararat Hwy/Rte773

Woolwine Hwy/Rte.8

ClaudevilleHwy/103

Fairystn Pk Hwy 57

Fairystn Pk Hwy 57

Jeb Stuart Hwy/58

Dobyns Rd./631

Dobyns Road 631

Dobyns Rd. 631

Dobyns Rd. RT.631

PleasantViewDr 692

Rhody Creek Lp 765

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

WoolwineHwy/Rte 8

Rt 40/Charity Hwy

Dry Pond Hwy. 103

County Line Rd 628

ROUTE 0008

Dogwood Lane/694

Homeplace Road/645

SquirrelCrekRd/631

Raven Rock Rd 671

Claudeville Hy 103

Apple Tree Dr 620

FriendsMission/675

Hardie Stone Rd721

Lone Ivy Rd / 613

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