County profile · official public datasets

Rockbridge County, VA

255 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 31% rated Good, 65.5% Fair, 3.5% Poor.

255
Public bridges: 31%
Good condition: 3.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Rockbridge 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.

68th
of 129 on Poor share: 3.5%
Poor-condition share: 255
public highway bridges: 1964
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.

Rockbridge County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Rockbridge County ranks #68 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.5%). Rockbridge County, Virginia contains 255 public highway bridges. Roughly 31% are rated “Good,” 65.5% “Fair,” and 3.5% “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

255

Public highway bridges in Rockbridge County

Good condition

31%

79 of 255 rated 7-9

Fair condition

65.5%

167 of 255 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.5%

9 of 255 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#68 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 255 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

31% (79)

Fair

65.5% (167)

Poor

3.5% (9)

Rockbridge County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,116 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 124 crossings a day against 2,728 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 255 of 255 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

68.2% of Rockbridge County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

174 of the 255 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 31% 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 26.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

BROWNSBURG TURNPIK over MOFFATTS CREEK, built 1927, carries 291 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,116 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1910s

1
1920s

6
1930s

62
1940s

11
1950s

11
1960s

40
1970s

75
1980s

8
1990s

14
2000s

11
2010s

10
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 75 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1964, 10 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Rockbridge County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1964 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Rockbridge County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Rockingham County	288	53.1%	43.8%	3.1%	1972
Buchanan County	283	12%	83.4%	4.6%	1967
Pittsylvania County	267	40.8%	53.9%	5.2%	1977
Albemarle County	262	34.4%	63.7%	1.9%	1962
Rockbridge County (this page)	255	31%	65.5%	3.5%	1964
Fauquier County	229	38%	60.7%	1.3%	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 Rockbridge 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 Rockbridge County, both outside Virginia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (255 bridges here).

Marion County, AL · 255 bridges
Osceola County, FL · 255 bridges
Marshall County, MS · 255 bridges
Nuckolls County, NE · 255 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1964 here).

Bergen County, NJ · avg 1964 · 577 bridges
Morris County, NJ · avg 1964 · 508 bridges
Baltimore city County, MD · avg 1964 · 374 bridges
Ross County, OH · avg 1964 · 356 bridges

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

All 255 Good 79 Fair 167 Poor 9

Fair-condition bridges (167)

Sort:

Rockbridge County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Rockbridge County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,116 vehicle crossings a day

68.2% of Rockbridge County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 26.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Rockbridge 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 (167)

SOUTH LEE HIGHWAY

ROUTE 0064

PLANK ROAD

SOUTH BUFFALO RD

FREDERICKSBURG RD

LOW BRIDGE LANE

STILL HOUSE DRIVE

LILLY BELL RD

BOUNDARY LINE LANE

N LEE HIGHWAY NBL

VIRGINIA AVENUE

NBL ROUTE 0081

BROWNSBURG TURNPIK

BROWNSBURG TPK

SOUTH BUFFALO ROAD

SEHORN HOLLOW ROAD

PADGETTS HILL ROAD

BRATTONS RUN

WERT FAULKNER HWY

MAURY RIVER RD

MAURY RIVER RD

EAST MIDLAND TRAIL

W MIDLAND TRAIL

RTE 11 BYPASS

EBL ROUTE 0064

HIGH BRIDGE CH RD

SOUTH LEE HWY

WBL ROUTE 0064

IRISH CREEK RD

RAPHINE ROAD

ARNOLDS VALLEY RD

N LEE HIGHWAY SBL

SBL ROUTE 0081

OLD BUENA VISTA RD

BELLS VALLEY ROAD

FALLING SPRINGS RD

COLLIERSTOWN RD

SOUTH RIVER ROAD

TYE RIVER TURNPIKE

FALLING SPRINGS RD

TYE RIVER TURNPIKE

SYCAMORE VALLEY DR

NBL ROUTE 0081

SBL ROUTE 0081

BLACKS CREEK ROAD

WBL ROUTE 0060

ARONLDS VALLEY RD

LINCOLN RD

SBL ROUTE 0081

NBL ROUTE 0081

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