Total bridges
17
Public highway bridges in Salem city County
County profile · official public datasets
Salem city County, VA
17 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.1% rated Good, 41.2% Fair, 11.8% Poor.
- 17
- Public bridges
- 47.1%
- Good condition
- 11.8%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Salem city 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.
- 118th
- of 129 on Poor share
- 11.8%
- Poor-condition share
- 17
- public highway bridges
- 1963
- 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.
Salem city County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Salem city County ranks #118 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.8%). Salem city County, Virginia contains 17 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.1% are rated “Good,” 41.2% “Fair,” and 11.8% “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.
Good condition
47.1%
8 of 17 rated 7-9
Fair condition
41.2%
7 of 17 rated 5-6
Poor condition
11.8%
2 of 17 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#118 of 129
Among Virginia counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 17 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 47.1% (8)
Fair 41.2% (7)
Poor 11.8% (2)
Salem city County's Poor-condition bridges carry 34,890 vehicle crossings a day
That is 16.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 17,445 crossings a day against 9,886 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 17 of 17 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
76.5% of Salem city County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
13 of the 17 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 47.1% 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 57.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
ROUTE 0011 over APPERSN DR O ROANOKE RV, built 1940, carries 19,916 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 34,890 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Salem city County's bridges were built
17 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s
1930–1939
3 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
5 bridges
- 1950s 1
1950–1959
1 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
3 bridges
- 1970s 1
1970–1979
1 bridges
- 1990s 1
1990–1999
1 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
2 bridges
- 2010s 1
2010–2019
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1940s, when 5 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 75 to 84 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1963, 11 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.
How Salem city County compares with Virginia's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Virginia counties nearest Salem city County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.8% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1963 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 15 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 128 Virginia counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waynesboro city County | 19 | 42.1% | 52.6% | 5.3% | 1976 |
| Buena Vista city County | 18 | 44.4% | 55.6% | 0% | 1976 |
| Fredericksburg city County | 18 | 44.4% | 44.4% | 11.1% | 1983 |
| Staunton city County | 18 | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0% | 1972 |
| Salem city County (this page) | 17 | 47.1% | 41.2% | 11.8% | 1963 |
| Northumberland County | 16 | 31.3% | 62.5% | 6.3% | 1985 |
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 Salem 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 Salem city County, both outside Virginia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside VA (17 bridges here).
- Lake County, CO · 17 bridges
- Morton County, KS · 17 bridges
- Big Stone County, MN · 17 bridges
- Golden Valley County, MT · 17 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1963 here).
- Worcester County, MA · avg 1963 · 1,014 bridges
- Honolulu County, HI · avg 1963 · 682 bridges
- Chester County, PA · avg 1963 · 680 bridges
- Essex County, NJ · avg 1963 · 505 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (7)
ROUTE 0000
FairOver: ROANOKE BLVD O MASONS CK
0.20RT419;0.30 HEMLOCK RD, Salem city, VA
Built 1936 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 9,947
ROUTE 0011
FairOver: APPERSN DR O ROANOKE RV
0028419 0085419, Salem city, VA
Built 1942 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 11,885
NS RV
FairOver: Colorado Street
1.23 Rt 419;0.45 Rt 11A, Salem city, VA
Built 1948 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 14,974
ROUTE 0011
FairOver: 4TH ST O DRY BRANCH
0074COLL ST 0043WEST MAI, Salem city, VA
Built 1956 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 17,416
ROUTE 0419
FairOver: ELECTRIC RD
001111 015011 & 460, Salem city, VA
Built 1960 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 18,781
ROUTE 0419
FairOver: ROANOKE RIVER
0036SCL-SALE 003311, Salem city, VA
Built 1965 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 20,029
EDDY AVE
FairOver: ROANOKE RV
0032RTE 11 0004RIVERSID, Salem city, VA
Built 1969 Load: 62.6 t ADT: 4,030
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.