County profile · official public datasets

Petersburg city County, VA

41 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.3% rated Good, 61% Fair, 9.8% Poor.

41
Public bridges: 29.3%
Good condition: 9.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Petersburg city County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

113th
of 129 on Poor share: 9.8%
Poor-condition share: 41
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Petersburg city County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Petersburg city County ranks #113 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.8%). Petersburg city County, Virginia contains 41 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.3% are rated “Good,” 61% “Fair,” and 9.8% “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 Petersburg city County

Good condition

29.3%

12 of 41 rated 7-9

Fair condition

61%

25 of 41 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.8%

4 of 41 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#113 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 41 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29.3% (12)

Fair

61% (25)

Poor

9.8% (4)

Petersburg city County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,397 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,599 crossings a day against 6,619 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 41 of 41 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

29.3% of Petersburg city County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

12 of the 41 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 29.3% 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 48.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SYCAMORE STREET over LIEUTENANT RUN, built 1945, carries 8,965 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 18,397 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1930s

3
1940s

1
1950s

6
1960s

1
1970s

6
1980s

10
1990s

3
2000s

6
2010s

3
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 10 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1979, 5 years newer than the Virginia average of 1974.

How Petersburg city County compares with Virginia's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Petersburg city County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Petersburg city County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Petersburg city County (this page)	41	29.3%	61%	9.8%	1979
Cumberland County	39	59%	38.5%	2.6%	1978
Clarke County	38	28.9%	71.1%	0%	1968
Essex County	37	21.6%	73%	5.4%	1980
Bristol city County	34	35.3%	50%	14.7%	1954
Harrisonburg city County	34	44.1%	41.2%	14.7%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (41 bridges here).

Saguache County, CO · 41 bridges
Echols County, GA · 41 bridges
Pike County, GA · 41 bridges
Ohio County, IN · 41 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 41 Good 12 Fair 25 Poor 4

All bridges (41)

Sort:

Petersburg city County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Petersburg city County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,397 vehicle crossings a day

29.3% of Petersburg city County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 48.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Petersburg city 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 (41)

SYCAMORE STREET

RETNAG ROAD

DEFENSE ROAD

GRAHAM ROAD

SOUTH STREET

HALIFAX RD & CSXT

WYTHE STREET

SOUTH CRATER ROAD

WAGNER ROAD

BOYDTON PLANK ROAD

Johnson Road

VAUGHAN ROAD

WASHINGTON STREET

RIVES ROAD

WAGNER ROAD

BANK STREET

WAGNER ROAD

BOYDTON PLANK ROAD

SQUIRREL LEVEL RD

HALIFAX STREET

YOUNG AVENUE

HALIFAX STREET

JOHNSON ROAD

WAGNER ROAD

E Washington St

SOUTH CRATER ROAD

HINTON STREET

BOLLINGBROOK ST.

NORTH ADAMS STREET

BRIDGE STREET

HALIFAX ROAD

JOHNSON ROAD

HALIFAX ROAD

NORTH PARK DRIVE

WASHINGTON STREET

COUNTY DRIVE

ST. ANDREW STREET

FLEET STREET

FORT LEE ROAD

OAK HILL ROAD

SYCAMORE STREET

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