County profile · official public datasets

Portsmouth city County, VA

50 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 32% rated Good, 66% Fair, 2% Poor.

50
Public bridges: 32%
Good condition: 2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 36%
lowest Poor share in state: 2%
Poor-condition share: 50
public highway bridges: 1986
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.

Portsmouth city County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Portsmouth city County ranks #46 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2%). Portsmouth city County, Virginia contains 50 public highway bridges. Roughly 32% are rated “Good,” 66% “Fair,” and 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

Public highway bridges in Portsmouth city County

Good condition

32%

16 of 50 rated 7-9

Fair condition

66%

33 of 50 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1 of 50 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#46 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 50 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

32% (16)

Fair

66% (33)

Poor

2% (1)

Portsmouth city County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,581 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,581 crossings a day against 15,129 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 50 of 50 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

40% of Portsmouth city County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

20 of the 50 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 32% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

VICTORY BLVD. over PARADISE CREEK, built 1944, carries 6,581 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,581 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1940s

2
1950s

2
1960s

14
1970s

4
1980s

4
1990s

4
2000s

12
2010s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 14 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1986, 12 years newer than the Virginia average of 1974.

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Portsmouth city County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 13 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Portsmouth city County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Fluvanna County	55	40%	58.2%	1.8%	1974
Highland County	53	49.1%	45.3%	5.7%	1965
Danville city County	50	56%	40%	4%	1975
Hampton city County	50	20%	74%	6%	1979
Portsmouth city County (this page)	50	32%	66%	2%	1986
Greene County	49	18.4%	75.5%	6.1%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (50 bridges here).

Oglethorpe County, GA · 50 bridges
Randolph County, GA · 50 bridges
Putnam County, IL · 50 bridges
Simpson County, KY · 50 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1986 here).

El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges

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

All 50 Good 16 Fair 33 Poor 1

Fair-condition bridges (33)

Sort:

Portsmouth city County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Portsmouth city County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,581 vehicle crossings a day

40% of Portsmouth city County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Portsmouth 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

Fair-condition bridges (33)

SR 164 WBL

Court Street

SR 164 EBL

INTERSTATE 264

IS 264

IS 264

IS 264

LONDON BOULEVARD

WILLIAMS AVE.

ROUTE 17

IS 264

IS 264

IS 264

IS 264

SR 164

SR 164 WBL

Greenwood Drive

Town Point Road

IS 264 EBL Ramp

IS 264 EB OFF RAMP

INTERSTATE 264

LONDON BOULEVARD

Cedar Lane

IS 264

IS 264 WB ON-RAMP

Interstate 264

INTERSTATE 264

IS 264 EBL Ramp

SR 164 EBL

SR 164 WBL

SR 164 EBL

CLIFFORD STREET

US 58 & RAMP F

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