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.

When Chester County's bridges were built

680 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

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.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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 Poor
Bucks County 699 15.5%
Chester County (this page) 680 13.7%
Berks County 667 15%
Washington County 655 12.1%
Westmoreland County 620 15.8%
Philadelphia County 585 13.2%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

Good-condition bridges (170)

LANDENBERG ROAD

Good

Over: EAST BR. WHITE CLAY CRK

3 Mi S. of PA-41 3910-G6, Chester, PA

Built 2010 Load: 59.9 t ADT: 1,041

EXTON BYPASS(WB)

Good

Over: WHITFORD ROAD

WHITFORD RD/SR6030 21F13, Chester, PA

Built 1995 Load: 60.8 t ADT: 29,961

BRANDYWINE CK.ROAD

Good

Over: GREEN VALLEY CREEK

NEAR LR 15072 38J01, Chester, PA

Built 2007 Load: 60.8 t ADT: 191

THORNTON ROAD

Good

Over: BRANCH CHESTER CREEK

THORNBURY TOWNSHIP 41K3, Chester, PA

Built 2007 Load: 60.8 t ADT: 2,208

GREEN VALLEY ROAD

Good

Over: GREEN VALLEY CREEK

1.5 MI. SE OF MORTONVILLE, Chester, PA

Built 2008 Load: 61.7 t ADT: 192

Twin Bridge Ln Ent

Good

Over: E. Br. White Clay Creek

At Clay Creek Rd 3910-E3, Chester, PA

Built 1998 Load: 61.7 t ADT: 250

EXTON BYPASS(EB)

Good

Over: WHITFORD ROAD

WHITFORD RD/SR6030 21F13, Chester, PA

Built 1995 Load: 62.6 t ADT: 26,791

POTTSTOWN PIKE

Good

Over: DOWNINGTOWN INTCHG.RM.VW

RT.100 TPK.RP.VW 21B4, Chester, PA

Built 1987 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 27,780

HADFIELD ROAD

Good

Over: BEAVER CREEK

E.BRANDYWINE TWP. 19E11, Chester, PA

Built 1916 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 391

CHESTERVILLE ROAD

Good

Over: BIG ELK CREEK

LEWISVILLE 53A11, Chester, PA

Built 2000 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 2,435

HOPEWELL ROAD

Good

Over: BRANCH TWEED CREEK

NEAR OXFORD 51A03, Chester, PA

Built 2004 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 1,456

FROG HOLLOW ROAD

Good

Over: BUCK RUN

KING RANCH 37J2, Chester, PA

Built 2016 Load: 70.6 t ADT: 350

T-470

Good

Over: PA TPK (I-76)

Near TR401 and TR29 JCT, Chester, PA

Built 2010 Load: 76.2 t ADT: 200

NORWOOD ROAD

Good

Over: LUDWIGS RUN

At Sterling Ln 3471-J7, Chester, PA

Built 2005 Load: 77.1 t ADT: 2,764

PA TPK (I-76)

Good

Over: TRIB.VALLEY CREEK

NEAR VALLEY FORGE PARK, Chester, PA

Built 1950 Load: 89.7 t ADT: 47,120

RAPPS DAM ROAD

Good

Over: FRENCH CREEK

.5 MI. S. RTE 23 14J4, Chester, PA

Built 1866 Load: 94.0 t ADT: 3,279

U.S. 202

Good

Over: CHESTER VALLEY TRAIL

1 MILE N. U.S. 30 3473K0, Chester, PA

Built 2016 Load: 96.9 t ADT: 105,727

SWEDESFORD ROAD

Good

Over: BIKE PATH

NEAR VALLEY FORGE 24C4, Chester, PA

Built 2000 Load: 99.8 t ADT: 11,030

TELEGRAPH ROAD

Good

Over: BROAD RUN

2MI.TO LR 15080 30G13, Chester, PA

Built 2005 Load: 99.8 t ADT: 1,838

NEWPORT PIKE

Good

Over: KNIGHTS RUN

1.5 MI. NW RTE 10 3688A5, Chester, PA

Built 2012 Load: 99.8 t ADT: 10,974

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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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.