Total bridges
680
Public highway bridges in Chester County
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.
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.
When Chester County's bridges were built
680 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 26
Built before 1900
26 bridges
- 1900s 15
1900–1909
15 bridges
- 1910s 39
1910–1919
39 bridges
- 1920s 48
1920–1929
48 bridges
- 1930s 50
1930–1939
50 bridges
- 1940s 21
1940–1949
21 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
59 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
144 bridges
- 1970s 31
1970–1979
31 bridges
- 1980s 47
1980–1989
47 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
73 bridges
- 2000s 54
2000–2009
54 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
58 bridges
- 2020s 15
2020–2029
15 bridges
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.
| 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.
Fair-condition bridges (417)
CHESTER SPRINGS RD
FairOver: PINE CREEK
NEAR ROUTE 401 13D11, Chester, PA
Built 2002 Load: 56.2 t ADT: 358
EAST CHRISTINE RD.
FairOver: EAST PENN RAILROAD
NR.NOTTINGHAM PK. 50K08, Chester, PA
Built 1985 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 6,184
SPROUL ROAD
FairOver: NSRC (EARNEST-GLEN)
FRAZER S. US 30 22H10, Chester, PA
Built 1998 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 8,997
ON-RAMP TO SR 3100
FairOver: TAYLOR RUN
US 322 INTERCH. 31K8, Chester, PA
Built 1955 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 983
RAMP P
FairOver: RAMPS L N Q
.1 MI NE DEVON PK 25A2, Chester, PA
Built 2001 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 1,690
KINGS HIGHWAY
FairOver: US 30 BY PASS
N.OF COATESVILLE 29F1, Chester, PA
Built 1961 Load: 58.1 t ADT: 2,931
LENAPE ROAD
FairOver: BRANDYWINE CREEK
LENAPE 40G6, Chester, PA
Built 1902 Load: 59.0 t ADT: 7,254
POTTSTOWN PIKE
FairOver: VALLEY CREEK
EXTON CROSSROADS 21H11, Chester, PA
Built 1954 Load: 60.8 t ADT: 36,125
LINCOLN HIGHWAY
FairOver: AMTRAK
WEST COATESVILLE 28G5, Chester, PA
Built 1997 Load: 60.8 t ADT: 8,539
PENNSYLVANIA AVE
FairOver: BRANDYWINE CREEK
500 N US-322 3471-G9, Chester, PA
Built 1986 Load: 62.6 t ADT: 10,500
UPPER VALLEY ROAD
FairOver: OFFICERS RUN
ATGLEN 26H10, Chester, PA
Built 1937 Load: 63.5 t ADT: 538
SCHOOL ROAD
FairOver: WHITE CLAY CREEK
1.1 MI N SR896 ADC3909-C5, Chester, PA
Built 1940 Load: 63.5 t ADT: 200
BALTIMORE PIKE
FairOver: EAST BR. BIG ELK CREEK
5MI.EAST OXFORD 44H08, Chester, PA
Built 1987 Load: 71.7 t ADT: 6,617
MOREHALL ROAD
FairOver: VALLEY CREEK
NEAR VALLEY STORE 23B6, Chester, PA
Built 1964 Load: 77.1 t ADT: 21,147
PA TPK (I-76)
FairOver: TRIB. TO FRENCH CREEK
NEAR LOAG, Chester, PA
Built 1950 Load: 89.7 t ADT: 39,934
PA TPK (I-76)
FairOver: MARSH CREEK
NORTHEAST OF GLENMOORE, Chester, PA
Built 1950 Load: 89.7 t ADT: 39,934
TOWNSHIP LINE ROAD
FairOver: BRANCH OF VALLEY CREEK
100 W of PA 100 3472-J4, Chester, PA
Built 2001 Load: 99.8 t ADT: 525
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.