County profile · official public datasets

Chester County, PA

680 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25% rated Good, 61.3% Fair, 13.7% Poor.

680
Public bridges: 25%
Good condition: 13.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Chester 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.

43rd
of 67 on Poor share: 13.7%
Poor-condition share: 680
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.

Chester County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Chester County ranks #43 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 13.7%). Chester County, Pennsylvania contains 680 public highway bridges. Roughly 25% are rated “Good,” 61.3% “Fair,” and 13.7% “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

680

Public highway bridges in Chester County

Good condition

25%

170 of 680 rated 7-9

Fair condition

61.3%

417 of 680 rated 5-6

Poor condition

13.7%

93 of 680 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#43 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 680 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

25% (170)

Fair

61.3% (417)

Poor

13.7% (93)

Chester County's Poor-condition bridges carry 376,529 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 13.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,138 crossings a day against 7,828 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 678 of 680 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

62.6% of Chester County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

426 of the 680 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 25% 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 17.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

ROUTE 30 BY-PASS over CREEK RD BRANDYWINE CK., built 1961, carries 64,245 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 93-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 376,529 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

26
1900s

15
1910s

39
1920s

48
1930s

50
1940s

21
1950s

59
1960s

144
1970s

31
1980s

47
1990s

73
2000s

54
2010s

58
2020s

15

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 144 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1963, 7 years older than the Pennsylvania average of 1970.

How Chester County compares with Pennsylvania's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Chester County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 13.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1963 against a peer-group mean of 1964 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 66 Pennsylvania counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Chester County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Bucks County	699	24.3%	60.2%	15.5%	1958
Chester County (this page)	680	25%	61.3%	13.7%	1963
Berks County	667	21.4%	63.6%	15%	1962
Washington County	655	38.3%	49.6%	12.1%	1971
Westmoreland County	620	36.5%	47.7%	15.8%	1975
Philadelphia County	585	22.7%	64.1%	13.2%	1956

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (680 bridges here).

Honolulu County, HI · 682 bridges
Caddo County, LA · 682 bridges
El Paso County, CO · 686 bridges
Broward County, FL · 686 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1963 here).

Worcester County, MA · avg 1963 · 1,014 bridges
Essex County, NJ · avg 1963 · 505 bridges
Passaic County, NJ · avg 1963 · 333 bridges

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

All 680 Good 170 Fair 417 Poor 93

Fair-condition bridges (417)

Sort:

Chester County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Chester County's Poor-condition bridges carry 376,529 vehicle crossings a day

62.6% of Chester County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 17.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Chester County compares with Pennsylvania'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 (417)

EAST BRIDGE STREET

PORTERS MILL ROAD

WILSON RD (T-593)

ELKVIEW ROAD

DEVEREUX ROAD

ROSS FORDING ROAD

GERMANY HOLLOW RD

HALTEMAN ROAD

THOURON RD (T-378)

COUNTY PARK ROAD

DUTTON MILL ROAD

WEST CENTRAL AVE.

MERLIN ROAD

HARES HILL ROAD

DOE RUN CHURCH RD

SHOEN ROAD

BRADFORD ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

POTTSTOWN PIKE

POTTSTOWN BY-PASS

JENNERSVILLE ROAD

SHARPLESS ROAD

LLOYD AVE (T-340)

HIGHLAND RD (T440)

THOMAS ROAD (T576)

CONTENTION LANE

EXTON BYPASS (WB)

NORTH CHATHAM ROAD

BOOT ROAD

LEBOUTILLIER ROAD

PUSEY MILL RD(T337

GLEN WILLOW ROAD

UWCHLAN AVENUE

STRASBURG ROAD

LITTLE ELK CRK RD

HILLENDALE RD;T337

N BAILEY RD (T443)

HOPEWELL ROAD

NEW GARDEN STA RD

GROVE AVENUE

POTTSTOWN BY-PASS

WICKERTON ROAD

LAFAYETTE RD(T437)

JAMES MILL ROAD

US 30 BYPASS;RMP F

UNIONVILLE ROAD

POTTSTOWN BYPASS

FERNHILL ROAD

WATSON MILL ROAD

BRANDAMORE RD;T439

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