Total bridges
50
Public highway bridges in Portsmouth city County
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.
Good condition
32%
16 of 50 rated 7-9
Fair condition
66%
33 of 50 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2%
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.
When Portsmouth city County's bridges were built
50 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1940s 2
1940–1949
2 bridges
- 1950s 2
1950–1959
2 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
14 bridges
- 1970s 4
1970–1979
4 bridges
- 1980s 4
1980–1989
4 bridges
- 1990s 4
1990–1999
4 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
12 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
8 bridges
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.
| 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.
Good-condition bridges (16)
WILDERNESS ROAD
GoodOver: UNNAMED CREEK
NSA NW ANNEX CHESAPEAKE, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2011 Load: 32.6 t ADT: 10
MLK EXP - MAINLINE
GoodOver: I-264; Columbu; High
0.75 Mi fr 264, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2016 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 33,762
ROUTE 164 EBL
GoodOver: PORT. MARINE TER.&RAMP G
0.00 TO END 164, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2006 Load: 49.1 t ADT: 32,148
MLK EXP - RAMP EN
GoodOver: FREDERICK BLVD
0.3 Mi Fr I-264, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2016 Load: 49.2 t ADT: 4,122
ROUTE 164 WBL
GoodOver: 58 WBL; 164 EBL & PMT
0.00 BEG. 164, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2006 Load: 50.1 t ADT: 32,148
MLK EXP - RAMP S
GoodOver: Pond
0.38 Mi Fr I-264 WB, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2016 Load: 50.9 t ADT: 9,665
SR 164 EBL
GoodOver: APM Blvd
0.90 From Cedar Lane, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2006 Load: 53.5 t ADT: 29,860
SR 164 WBL
GoodOver: APM Blvd
0.90 MI. FROM CEDAR LANE, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2006 Load: 53.5 t ADT: 29,860
MLK EXP - RAMP N
GoodOver: Pond
0.38 Mi Fr I-264 WB, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2016 Load: 54.7 t ADT: 24,098
MLK EXP - RAMP NE
GoodOver: NORFOLK & PORTS BELT RR
0.5 Mi Fr I-264, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2016 Load: 56.2 t ADT: 4,122
RAMP "A" of 164
GoodOver: RTE. 58 EB&WB & PMT
0.0TO 164 WB/0.1fr RR Ave, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2006 Load: 56.6 t ADT: 1,500
MLK EXP - RAMP WN
GoodOver: UNKNOWN
0.00 Mi Fr I-264, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2016 Load: 59.4 t ADT: 24,098
MLK EXP - RAMP SW
GoodOver: UNKNOWN
0.00 Mi To I-264, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2016 Load: 59.4 t ADT: 9,665
ROUTE 164 WBL ON
GoodOver: PORTSMOUTH MARINE TERM.
0.10FROM WB58/0.01 TO 164, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2006 Load: 61.0 t ADT: 2,000
ROUTE 164 EBL
GoodOver: PORT.MARINE TER. & 58WBL
00.10 mile fr Midtown Tun, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2006 Load: 62.2 t ADT: 2,500
RTE. 164 OFF RAMP
GoodOver: PORTSMOUTH MARINE TERMIN
0.15 Mi to CLEVELAND ST, Portsmouth city, VA
Built 2006 Load: 78.0 t ADT: 2,500
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.