County profile · official public datasets

Wythe County, VA

181 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 17.7% rated Good, 79% Fair, 3.3% Poor.

181
Public bridges: 17.7%
Good condition: 3.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Wythe 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.

66th
of 129 on Poor share: 3.3%
Poor-condition share: 181
public highway bridges: 1966
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.

Wythe County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wythe County ranks #66 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.3%). Wythe County, Virginia contains 181 public highway bridges. Roughly 17.7% are rated “Good,” 79% “Fair,” and 3.3% “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

181

Public highway bridges in Wythe County

Good condition

17.7%

32 of 181 rated 7-9

Fair condition

79%

143 of 181 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.3%

6 of 181 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#66 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 181 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

17.7% (32)

Fair

79% (143)

Poor

3.3% (6)

Wythe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,293 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 382 crossings a day against 4,866 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 181 of 181 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

62.4% of Wythe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

113 of the 181 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 17.7% 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 50.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SOUTH 20th STREET over NS RAILWAY, built 1932, carries 1,150 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,293 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

40
1940s

5
1950s

12
1960s

51
1970s

20
1980s

25
1990s

10
2000s

8
2010s

4
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 51 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 8 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Wythe County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.3% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wythe County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Smyth County	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
Wythe County (this page)	181	17.7%	79%	3.3%	1966
Franklin County	174	42.5%	55.2%	2.3%	1966

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (181 bridges here).

Lamar County, AL · 181 bridges
Jasper County, IL · 181 bridges
Malheur County, OR · 181 bridges
Lancaster County, SC · 181 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1966 here).

Butler County, KS · avg 1966 · 591 bridges
Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges

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

All 181 Good 32 Fair 143 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (143)

Sort:

Wythe County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wythe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,293 vehicle crossings a day

62.4% of Wythe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 50.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wythe 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

Fair-condition bridges (143)

WYSOR HWY

CASTLETON RD.

SOUTH FORK DRIVE

FORT CHISWELL RD.

I-81 SBL

Lee Highway

I-81 NBL

FRONTAGE ROAD CONN

IVANHOE ROAD

STONEY FORK RD.

STORE HILL RD.

SAINT PETERS ROAD

BLACK LICK RD.

LITHIA RD.

SBL ROUTE 0081

I-81 SBL

LOOP A TO I-81 SBL

HIGH BRIDGE RD.

GREENBRIAR RD.

BLACK LICK ROAD

EAST LEE HIGHWAY

CRAWFISH ROAD

I-77 NBL

I-77 SBL

I-77 NBL

ROUTE F042

NYE ROAD

ROUTE F043

LAUREL RUN

I-77 SBL

I-77 NBL

CRIPPLE CREEK ROAD

CEDAR SPRINGS RD.

HOGBACK ROAD

I-81 NBL

BROWN TOWN RD.

TOBLER RD.

CHAPMAN ROAD

SMITH HOLLOW RD.

RED HOLLOW RD.

FOSTER FALLS ROAD

PEPPERS FERRY ROAD

PHILLIPI RD.

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