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.

When Rockbridge County's bridges were built

255 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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 Poor
Rockingham County 288 3.1%
Buchanan County 283 4.6%
Pittsylvania County 267 5.2%
Albemarle County 262 1.9%
Rockbridge County (this page) 255 3.5%
Fauquier County 229 1.3%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

Good-condition bridges (79)

COLLIERSTOWN ROAD

Good

Over: TRID BUFFALO CREEK

0.35 TO 674 & 0.50 TO 670, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1972 Load: 55.3 t ADT: 1,723

SOUTH BUFFALO RD

Good

Over: SOUTH BUFFALO CREEK

0.15 TO 612 & 5.26 TO 661, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1932 Load: 55.3 t ADT: 92

BACK RUN RD

Good

Over: ELK CREEK

0.70 TO 790 & 0.10 TO 759, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1932 Load: 55.3 t ADT: 236

PLANK RD

Good

Over: BROAD CREEK

0.95 TO 678 - 1.15 TO 682, Rockbridge, VA

Built 2022 Load: 55.6 t ADT: 173

BIG SPRING DR

Good

Over: BIG SPRING

.24 TO 751 & 0.40 TO 9714, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1932 Load: 56.2 t ADT: 548

TURNPIKE ROAD

Good

Over: COLLIERS CREEK

0.00 TO 646 & 0.45 TO 654, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1984 Load: 56.2 t ADT: 183

PLANK RD

Good

Over: SPRING GAP CREEK

0.4 to 693W & 0.0 to 693, Rockbridge, VA

Built 2010 Load: 56.2 t ADT: 103

PLANK RD

Good

Over: TRIB CEDAR CREEK

0.60 To 692 & 0.90 To 693, Rockbridge, VA

Built 2010 Load: 56.8 t ADT: 103

JACKTOWN ROAD

Good

Over: TRIB WHISTLE CREEK

1.00 TO 638 & 0.00 TO 673, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1970 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 307

WALKERS CREEK RD

Good

Over: WALKER CREEK

2.7 TO 731N & 2.4 TO 724N, Rockbridge, VA

Built 2020 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 85

SBL ROUTE 0081

Good

Over: BUFFALO CREEK

3.51 TO 11 & 4.63 TO 60, Rockbridge, VA

Built 2007 Load: 59.0 t ADT: 20,210

S SUGAR CREEK ROAD

Good

Over: SUGAR CREEK

0.15 TO 672 & 1.25 TO 676, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1932 Load: 59.9 t ADT: 33

WALKER CREEK ROAD

Good

Over: WALKER CREEK

2.5 to 731N & 2.0 to 742N, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1996 Load: 60.3 t ADT: 85

WALKERS CREEK ROAD

Good

Over: WALKER CREEK

5.07 TO 724 & 0.03 TO 731, Rockbridge, VA

Built 2015 Load: 60.8 t ADT: 85

PLANK ROAD

Good

Over: CEDAR CREEK

0.56 TO 691 & 0.04 TO 692, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1989 Load: 61.7 t ADT: 94

WBL ROUTE 0064

Good

Over: RTE 850

0.81 TO 780 & 6.56 TO 60, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1978 Load: 62.6 t ADT: 4,492

EDGARS WAY

Good

Over: WHISTLE CREEK

0.10 TO 60W & 0.60 TO 60E, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1932 Load: 63.1 t ADT: 52

COLLIERSTOWN ROAD

Good

Over: BUFFALO CREEK NEAR MURAT

0.03 TO 675 & 0.07 TO 675, Rockbridge, VA

Built 2001 Load: 63.5 t ADT: 1,723

SBL ROUTE 0081

Good

Over: MAURY RIVER

1.57 TO 60 & 1.18 TO 64, Rockbridge, VA

Built 2006 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 18,759

ANDERSON DRIVE

Good

Over: WOODS CREEK

0.38 LETCHER AVE-0.17 END, Rockbridge, VA

Built 2020 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 903

BEATTY HOLLOW

Good

Over: WALTERS CREEK

0.10 TO 60 & 0.30 TO 670, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1932 Load: 65.3 t ADT: 516

LITTLE RIVER RD

Good

Over: CALFPASTURE RIVER

0.05 TO 39 & 1.70 TO 617, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1970 Load: 67.1 t ADT: 390

NBL I-81

Good

Over: RTE 710

5.52 TO 11 & 4.45 TO 606, Rockbridge, VA

Built 2013 Load: 67.1 t ADT: 48,668

HOPPERS CREEK RD

Good

Over: TRIB ELK CREEK

0.90 TO 802 & 0.10 TO 781, Rockbridge, VA

Built 2008 Load: 68.6 t ADT: 165

EBL ROUTE 0064

Good

Over: RTE 629

2.36 TO 780 & 5.01 TO 60, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1978 Load: 75.5 t ADT: 4,323

RTE 712

Good

Over: RTE I-81

1.25 TO 717 & 0.02 TO 715, Rockbridge, VA

Built 2011 Load: 75.8 t ADT: 363

SOUTH BUFFALO RD

Good

Over: SOUTH BUFFALO CREEK

1.15 to 738 & 0.25 to 661, Rockbridge, VA

Built 2010 Load: 81.3 t ADT: 230

TURNPIKE ROAD

Good

Over: COLLIERS CREEK

0.05 TO 809 & 0.05 TO 657, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1986 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 649

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

Good

Over: VA ROUTE 56

11.2 MILES NORTH TO VA RO, Rockbridge, VA

Built 1949 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 400

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

Browse all → | Rankings →
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges

Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.