County profile · official public datasets

Philadelphia County, PA

585 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 22.7% rated Good, 64.1% Fair, 13.2% Poor.

585
Public bridges: 22.7%
Good condition: 13.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Philadelphia 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.

41st
of 67 on Poor share: 13.2%
Poor-condition share: 585
public highway bridges: 1956
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.

Philadelphia County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Philadelphia County ranks #41 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 13.2%). Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania contains 585 public highway bridges. Roughly 22.7% are rated “Good,” 64.1% “Fair,” and 13.2% “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

585

Public highway bridges in Philadelphia County

Good condition

22.7%

133 of 585 rated 7-9

Fair condition

64.1%

375 of 585 rated 5-6

Poor condition

13.2%

77 of 585 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#41 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 585 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

22.7% (133)

Fair

64.1% (375)

Poor

13.2% (77)

Philadelphia County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,260,836 vehicle crossings a day

That is 11.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 13% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 29,748 crossings a day against 36,551 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 583 of 585 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

69.5% of Philadelphia County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

406 of the 584 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 22.7% 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 11.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

INTERSTATE 95 over TACONY ST.AND BRIDGE ST., built 1967, carries 251,200 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 77-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,260,836 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

36
1900s

39
1910s

40
1920s

30
1930s

33
1940s

9
1950s

72
1960s

102
1970s

81
1980s

59
1990s

23
2000s

10
2010s

40
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 102 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1956, 14 years older than the Pennsylvania average of 1970.

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

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Philadelphia County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 13.2% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1956 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is 13 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Philadelphia County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Chester County	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 (this page)	585	22.7%	64.1%	13.2%	1956
York County	569	31.1%	55.9%	13%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (585 bridges here).

McPherson County, KS · 586 bridges
Knox County, TN · 588 bridges
Tulare County, CA · 589 bridges
Dane County, WI · 590 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1956 here).

Cochise County, AZ · avg 1956 · 501 bridges
Hampden County, MA · avg 1956 · 428 bridges
Stanislaus County, CA · avg 1956 · 386 bridges
Washington County, MD · avg 1956 · 300 bridges

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

All 585 Good 133 Fair 375 Poor 77

All bridges (585)

Sort:

Philadelphia County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Philadelphia County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,260,836 vehicle crossings a day

69.5% of Philadelphia County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 11.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Philadelphia 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

All bridges (585)

Cresson Street

RAMP EBU OFF 76EB

SCHUYLKILL EXPWAY.

INTERSTATE 95 N.B.

GRANT AVENUE

WOODHAVEN ROAD

WAYNE AVENUE

Wyoming Avenue

Wyoming Avenue

ON RAMP FROM UNIV.

INTERSTATE 95

VEREE ROAD

84TH STREET

63RD STREET

LITTLE MARKET ST

JFK BLVD.

MOUNT AIRY AVENUE

21st Street

Fountain Street

MARKET STREET WEST

RAMP SV

RAMP B N.B.ON

RAMP VN

RAMP B N.B. ON RAM

RIDGE AVENUE N.B.

HENRY AVENUE

Front Street

FDR Park North Dr

FDR Park Center Dr

Wyoming Avenue

RAMPS G & E

CLAPIER STREET

SCHUYLKILL AV WEST

20th Street

Wyoming Avenue

Decatur Road

Red Lion Road

RAMP D TO I-76 EB

SCHUYLKILL EXWY.EB

SCHUYLKILL EXPWAY.

INTERSTATE 95 N.B.

INTERSTATE 95

INTERSTATE 95 S.B.

BUSTLETON PIKE

KNIGHTS ROAD

Wingohocking St.

RAMP M & RAMP K

Zoological Avenue

ROOSEVELT BLVD.

INTERSTATE 95 S.B.

Related