Total bridges
136
Public highway bridges in Russell County
County profile · official public datasets
Russell County, VA
136 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28.7% rated Good, 65.4% Fair, 5.9% Poor.
- 136
- Public bridges
- 28.7%
- Good condition
- 5.9%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Russell 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.
- 94th
- of 129 on Poor share
- 5.9%
- Poor-condition share
- 136
- public highway bridges
- 1968
- 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.
Russell County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Russell County ranks #94 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.9%). Russell County, Virginia contains 136 public highway bridges. Roughly 28.7% are rated “Good,” 65.4% “Fair,” and 5.9% “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.
Good condition
28.7%
39 of 136 rated 7-9
Fair condition
65.4%
89 of 136 rated 5-6
Poor condition
5.9%
8 of 136 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#94 of 129
Among Virginia counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 136 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 28.7% (39)
Fair 65.4% (89)
Poor 5.9% (8)
Russell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,286 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 411 crossings a day against 1,546 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 136 of 136 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
55.9% of Russell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
76 of the 136 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 28.7% 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 39.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
DRILL RD. over LEWIS CREEK, built 1960, carries 1,297 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 3,286 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Russell County's bridges were built
136 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 3
1910–1919
3 bridges
- 1920s 3
1920–1929
3 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
21 bridges
- 1940s 5
1940–1949
5 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
14 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
18 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
24 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
23 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
11 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
12 bridges
- 2010s 1
2010–2019
1 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 24 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1968, 6 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.
How Russell County compares with Virginia's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Virginia counties nearest Russell County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 5 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 128 Virginia counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scott County | 138 | 20.3% | 71.7% | 8% | 1968 |
| Nelson County | 136 | 37.5% | 58.1% | 4.4% | 1968 |
| Russell County (this page) | 136 | 28.7% | 65.4% | 5.9% | 1968 |
| Henry County | 135 | 25.2% | 74.8% | 0% | 1972 |
| Prince George County | 132 | 6.8% | 88.6% | 4.5% | 1975 |
| Suffolk city County | 132 | 25.8% | 69.7% | 4.5% | 1981 |
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 Russell 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 Russell County, both outside Virginia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside VA (136 bridges here).
- Bullock County, AL · 136 bridges
- Jackson County, AR · 136 bridges
- Perry County, IL · 136 bridges
- Lincoln County, KY · 136 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1968 here).
- Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
- San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
- Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
- Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (8)
CLINCH MOUNTAIN RD
PoorOver: MOCCASIN CREEK
2.10MTO 677W& .50MTO 613E, Russell, VA
Built 1956 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 190
ARTRIP ROAD
PoorOver: NS RAILWAY
1.65MTO708 & 1.35M TO 663, Russell, VA
Built 1932 Load: 11.8 t ADT: 57
DRILL RD.
PoorOver: LEWIS CREEK
.45M TO 704 & .35M TO 639, Russell, VA
Built 1960 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 1,297
ROANOKE HILL ROAD
PoorOver: SR-63
.30M TO 627&.25M TO 763, Russell, VA
Built 1957 Load: 20.9 t ADT: 40
PINE CREEK ROAD
PoorOver: PINE CREEK
.02M TO 67 & 1.44M TO 768, Russell, VA
Built 1932 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 911
ARNOLD RD.
PoorOver: LEWIS CREEK
0.0MTO653&.40MTODEADEND, Russell, VA
Built 1932 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 64
OLD HIGHWAY 19
PoorOver: INDIAN CREEK
.67M TO 640&.33MTOTAZ.CO., Russell, VA
Built 1913 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 193
BIG CEDAR CREEK RD
PoorOver: MOUNTAIN BRANCH
.25M TO 657 & .43M TO 727, Russell, VA
Built 1952 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 534
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.