County profile · official public datasets

Stafford County, VA

112 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.4% rated Good, 59.8% Fair, 1.8% Poor.

112
Public bridges: 38.4%
Good condition: 1.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Stafford County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 33%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.8%
Poor-condition share: 112
public highway bridges: 1987
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.

Stafford County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Stafford County ranks #42 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.8%). Stafford County, Virginia contains 112 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.4% are rated “Good,” 59.8% “Fair,” and 1.8% “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.

Total bridges

112

Public highway bridges in Stafford County

Good condition

38.4%

43 of 112 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.8%

67 of 112 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.8%

2 of 112 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#42 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 112 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.4% (43)

Fair

59.8% (67)

Poor

1.8% (2)

Stafford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 21,738 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 10,869 crossings a day against 13,291 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 112 of 112 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

38.4% of Stafford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

43 of the 112 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 38.4% 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 95.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RICHMOND HWY. over CHOPAWAMSIC CREEK, built 1933, carries 20,738 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 21,738 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

9
1940s

5
1950s

5
1960s

17
1970s

9
1980s

6
1990s

11
2000s

21
2010s

19
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 21 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1987, 13 years newer than the Virginia average of 1974.

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Stafford County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is 15 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Stafford County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Virginia Beach city County	119	38.7%	59.7%	1.7%	1983
Floyd County	115	47%	53%	0%	1965
Stafford County (this page)	112	38.4%	59.8%	1.8%	1987
Caroline County	107	22.4%	72.9%	4.7%	1975
Pulaski County	105	30.5%	66.7%	2.9%	1965
Sussex County	105	13.3%	86.7%	0%	1973

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 Stafford 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 Stafford County, both outside Virginia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (112 bridges here).

Columbia County, FL · 112 bridges
Sumter County, FL · 112 bridges
Houston County, GA · 112 bridges
Tift County, GA · 112 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1987 here).

St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
St. Louis County, MN · avg 1987 · 663 bridges
Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges

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

All 112 Good 43 Fair 67 Poor 2

All bridges (112)

Sort:

Stafford County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Stafford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 21,738 vehicle crossings a day

38.4% of Stafford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 95.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Stafford 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

All bridges (112)

NAOMI ROAD

BROOKE RD.

WASHINGTON ST.

WBL KINGS HWY.

RAVEN ROAD

SBL RICHMOND HWY

KINGS HIGHWAY

KINGS HIGHWAY

WARRENTON RD.

CAISSON RD.

BROOKE ROAD

POPLAR RD.

POPLAR RD.

RAMOTH CH. RD.

HOLLY CORNER ROAD

DAIRY LANE

RIVERSIDE PARKWAY

MINE RD.

TACKET MILL ROAD

COACHMAN CIRCLE

ROUTE 0003

NBL RICHMOND HWY

EUSTACE RD.

STEFANIGA RD.

SBL ROUTE 0095

RICHMOND HWY.

GARRISONVILLE RD.

SBL ROUTE I-95

MOUNTAIN VIEW RD.

SBL ROUTE 0095

NBL ROUTE 0095

NBL ROUTE I-95

NBL ROUTE 0095

POTOMAC RUN RD.

KELLOGG MILL RD.

LEELAND RD.

COOL SPRINGS RD.

RTE. 218 (E&WBL)

BROOKE RD.

NBL ROUTE 0095

MCB-2

MCB-3

NBL WARRENTON RD.

Centreport Pkwy

SBL ROUTE 0095

BLUE GRAY PKWY

Telegraph Road

CENTREPORT PKWY.

ROUTE 0610 WBL

ESKIMO HILL RD.

Related