County profile · official public datasets

New Kent County, VA

60 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 3.3% rated Good, 90% Fair, 6.7% Poor.

60
Public bridges: 3.3%
Good condition: 6.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

New Kent 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.

102nd
of 129 on Poor share: 6.7%
Poor-condition share: 60
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

New Kent County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, New Kent County ranks #102 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.7%). New Kent County, Virginia contains 60 public highway bridges. Roughly 3.3% are rated “Good,” 90% “Fair,” and 6.7% “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

Public highway bridges in New Kent County

Good condition

3.3%

2 of 60 rated 7-9

Fair condition

90%

54 of 60 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.7%

4 of 60 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#102 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 60 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

3.3% (2)

Fair

90% (54)

Poor

6.7% (4)

New Kent County's Poor-condition bridges carry 27,018 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,755 crossings a day against 1,967 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 60 of 60 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

86.7% of New Kent County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

52 of the 60 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 3.3% 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 59.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NEW KENT HIGHWAY over RTE I 64 @ BOTTOMS BRIDG, built 1965, carries 16,139 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 27,018 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

2
1940s

6
1950s

1
1960s

9
1970s

34
1990s

2
2000s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 34 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 56.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1968, 6 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest New Kent County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for New Kent County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Craig County	60	28.3%	68.3%	3.3%	1969
James City County	60	13.3%	86.7%	0%	1977
Newport News city County	60	51.7%	48.3%	0%	1985
New Kent County (this page)	60	3.3%	90%	6.7%	1968
Amelia County	58	20.7%	70.7%	8.6%	1975
Fluvanna County	55	40%	58.2%	1.8%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (60 bridges here).

Hamilton County, FL · 60 bridges
Hernando County, FL · 60 bridges
Madison County, FL · 60 bridges
Heard County, GA · 60 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges

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

All 60 Good 2 Fair 54 Poor 4

All bridges (60)

Sort:

New Kent County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

New Kent County's Poor-condition bridges carry 27,018 vehicle crossings a day

86.7% of New Kent County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 59.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How New Kent 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

All bridges (60)

WBL POCAHONTAS TR

BOULEVARD ROAD

WBL POCHONTAS TR

FARMERS DRIVE

OLD CHURCH ROAD

Stewarts Road

POCAHONTAS TRAIL

EBL ROUTE 0064

WBL ROUTE 0064

EBL ROUTE 0064

WBL ROUTE 0064

OLD CHURCH ROAD

OLD RIVER ROAD

STAGE ROAD

NEW KENT HIGHWAY

N. WATERSIDE DRIVE

WBL I-64

WBL I-64

EBL I-64

S. COURTHOUSE ROAD

COOKS MILL ROAD

HOMESTEAD ROAD

HOMESTEAD ROAD

MT. PLEASANT ROAD

POCAHONTAS TRAIL

EBL ELTHAM ROAD

EBL I-64

RAMP FR 33 WBL

ROPERS CHURCH ROAD

ROPERS CHURCH RD

OLD ROXBURY ROAD

EBL ELTHAM ROAD

RAMP RTE 33 WBL

WBL ROUTE 0064

DIASCUND RES. ROAD

EBL ROUTE 0064

WBL ROUTE 0064

AIRPORT ROAD

OLIVET CHURCH ROAD

OLIVET CHURCH ROAD

HENPECK ROAD

AIRPORT ROAD

POCAHONTAS TRAIL

EBL I-64

EBL I-64

WBL I-64

WBL POCAHONTAS TR

WBL ROUTE 0064

EBL ROUTE 0064

WBL ROUTE 0064

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