County profile · official public datasets

Roanoke city County, VA

88 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.8% rated Good, 59.1% Fair, 1.1% Poor.

88
Public bridges: 39.8%
Good condition: 1.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 26%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.1%
Poor-condition share: 88
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Roanoke city County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Roanoke city County ranks #33 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.1%). Roanoke city County, Virginia contains 88 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.8% are rated “Good,” 59.1% “Fair,” and 1.1% “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 Roanoke city County

Good condition

39.8%

35 of 88 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.1%

52 of 88 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.1%

1 of 88 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#33 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 88 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

39.8% (35)

Fair

59.1% (52)

Poor

1.1% (1)

Roanoke city County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,385 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 11,385 crossings a day against 6,888 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 88 of 88 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.6% of Roanoke city County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

41 of the 88 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 39.8% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

13th St S.W. over VIRGINIA AVE O NS RWY, built 1963, carries 11,385 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 11,385 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

3
1930s

13
1940s

2
1950s

3
1960s

13
1970s

15
1980s

8
1990s

20
2000s

5
2010s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the Virginia average (1974).

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Roanoke city County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.1% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Roanoke city County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Louisa County	93	28%	69.9%	2.2%	1973
Greensville County	92	21.7%	76.1%	2.2%	1966
Lunenburg County	88	33%	52.3%	14.8%	1969
Roanoke city County (this page)	88	39.8%	59.1%	1.1%	1972
Goochland County	87	13.8%	85.1%	1.1%	1981
Rappahannock County	87	37.9%	56.3%	5.7%	1960

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (88 bridges here).

Chicot County, AR · 88 bridges
Prairie County, AR · 88 bridges
Grand County, CO · 88 bridges
Spalding County, GA · 88 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 88 Good 35 Fair 52 Poor 1

Good-condition bridges (35)

Sort:

Roanoke city County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Roanoke city County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,385 vehicle crossings a day

46.6% of Roanoke city County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Roanoke city 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 (35)

Brandon Ave

WONJU ST

CENTRE AVENUE

Route 460 EB

PETERS CRK. RD 117

NORTHWOOD DRIVE

Liberty Road

COLUMBIA STREET

Broadway Ave. SW

ROSE AVE

KNOLLWOOD ROAD

Craig Robertson Rd

BRAMBLTON AVE

BRIDGE STREET

GARDEN CITY BLVD

Peach Tree Road

THOMASON AVE

Valley View Blvd

Gainsboro Road

WALNUT AVENUE

PETERS CR. RD. EXT

COVE ROAD

ELM AVENUE

SHENANDOAH AVE.

Grandin Road

9TH STREET

PETERS CREEK RD

OLD MOUNTAIN ROAD

ROUTE 220

Wiley Drive

JEFFERSON ST

FLYOVER #1

BANDY ROAD

GILMER AVENUE

BERKLEY ROAD

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