Total bridges
190
Public highway bridges in Smyth County
County profile · official public datasets
Smyth County, VA
190 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 17.9% rated Good, 77.9% Fair, 4.2% Poor.
- 190
- Public bridges
- 17.9%
- Good condition
- 4.2%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Smyth County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 74th
- of 129 on Poor share
- 4.2%
- Poor-condition share
- 190
- public highway bridges
- 1970
- 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.
Smyth County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Smyth County ranks #74 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.2%). Smyth County, Virginia contains 190 public highway bridges. Roughly 17.9% are rated “Good,” 77.9% “Fair,” and 4.2% “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
17.9%
34 of 190 rated 7-9
Fair condition
77.9%
148 of 190 rated 5-6
Poor condition
4.2%
8 of 190 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#74 of 129
Among Virginia counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 190 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 17.9% (34)
Fair 77.9% (148)
Poor 4.2% (8)
Smyth County's Poor-condition bridges carry 36,672 vehicle crossings a day
That is 4.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,584 crossings a day against 3,766 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 189 of 190 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
60.5% of Smyth County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
115 of the 190 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 17.9% 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 45% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
INTERSTATE 81 NBL over M. FORK HOLSTON RIVER, built 1962, carries 16,486 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 36,672 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Smyth County's bridges were built
190 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 1
Built before 1900
1 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
37 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s 8
1950–1959
8 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
60 bridges
- 1970s 15
1970–1979
15 bridges
- 1980s 11
1980–1989
11 bridges
- 1990s 20
1990–1999
20 bridges
- 2000s 19
2000–2009
19 bridges
- 2010s 12
2010–2019
12 bridges
- 2020s 4
2020–2029
4 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 60 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1970) matches the Virginia average (1974).
How Smyth County compares with Virginia's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Virginia counties nearest Smyth County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.2% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 128 Virginia counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alleghany County | 197 | 27.9% | 68% | 4.1% | 1966 |
| Montgomery County | 196 | 44.9% | 52.6% | 2.6% | 1975 |
| Smyth County (this page) | 190 | 17.9% | 77.9% | 4.2% | 1970 |
| Chesapeake city County | 187 | 42.8% | 51.3% | 5.9% | 1990 |
| Washington County | 186 | 17.2% | 81.7% | 1.1% | 1968 |
| Arlington County | 183 | 14.8% | 81.4% | 3.8% | 1972 |
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 Smyth 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 Smyth County, both outside Virginia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside VA (190 bridges here).
- Clinton County, IL · 190 bridges
- Wapello County, IA · 190 bridges
- Webster County, IA · 190 bridges
- Bienville County, LA · 190 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1970 here).
- Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
- Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
- Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
- San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (8)
RAILROAD DRIVE
PoorOver: NS RAILWAY
.97 FR R659 & .02 TO R11, Smyth, VA
Built 1932 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 949
EAST CHILHOWIE ST
PoorOver: MF HOLSTON RIVER
.04 N MAIN & .04 PRATER, Smyth, VA
Built 1885 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 168
CEDAR SPRINGS ROAD
PoorOver: BRANCH
0.35 FR 749 - 0.1 TO 705, Smyth, VA
Built 1932 Load: 11.8 t ADT: 435
LAUREL SPRING ROAD
PoorOver: INTERSTATE 81
.5 TO R765 & .1 TO R11, Smyth, VA
Built 1962 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 556
OLD EBENEZER RD
PoorOver: M FORK HOLSTON RIVER
0.25 FR 660; 0.25 TO 1115, Smyth, VA
Built 1966 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 868
INTERSTATE 81 NBL
PoorOver: M. FORK HOLSTON RIVER
0.69 FR WCL - .50 TO 762, Smyth, VA
Built 1962 Load: 44.5 t ADT: 16,486
BEAR CREEK ROAD
PoorOver: NS RAILWAY
AT R11 & .9 TO R617, Smyth, VA
Built 1969 Load: 48.1 t ADT: 2,013
INTERSTATE 81 SBL
PoorOver: M. FORK HOLSTON RIVER
0.69 FR WCL - .50 TO 762, Smyth, VA
Built 1962 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 15,197
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.