County profile · official public datasets

Richmond city County, VA

125 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 11.2% rated Good, 73.6% Fair, 15.2% Poor.

125
Public bridges: 11.2%
Good condition: 15.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Richmond city County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

125th
of 129 on Poor share: 15.2%
Poor-condition share: 125
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Richmond city County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Richmond city County ranks #125 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.2%). Richmond city County, Virginia contains 125 public highway bridges. Roughly 11.2% are rated “Good,” 73.6% “Fair,” and 15.2% “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

125

Public highway bridges in Richmond city County

Good condition

11.2%

14 of 125 rated 7-9

Fair condition

73.6%

92 of 125 rated 5-6

Poor condition

15.2%

19 of 125 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#125 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 125 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

11.2% (14)

Fair

73.6% (92)

Poor

15.2% (19)

Richmond city County's Poor-condition bridges carry 186,428 vehicle crossings a day

That is 14.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 9,812 crossings a day against 6,347 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 125 of 125 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

44.8% of Richmond city County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

56 of the 125 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 11.2% 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 14% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

BROAD STREET over I-95, built 1958, carries 26,150 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 186,428 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

2
1920s

3
1930s

4
1940s

6
1950s

18
1960s

9
1970s

49
1980s

7
1990s

15
2000s

8
2010s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 49 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 39.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the Virginia average (1974).

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Richmond city County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 5 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Richmond city County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Prince George County	132	6.8%	88.6%	4.5%	1975
Suffolk city County	132	25.8%	69.7%	4.5%	1981
Richmond city County (this page)	125	11.2%	73.6%	15.2%	1972
Bland County	122	11.5%	82.8%	5.7%	1968
York County	122	19.7%	79.5%	0.8%	1979
Virginia Beach city County	119	38.7%	59.7%	1.7%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (125 bridges here).

Hoonah-Angoon County, AK · 125 bridges
Tuolumne County, CA · 125 bridges
Worth County, GA · 125 bridges
Stone County, MS · 125 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 125 Good 14 Fair 92 Poor 19

Fair-condition bridges (92)

Sort:

Richmond city County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Richmond city County's Poor-condition bridges carry 186,428 vehicle crossings a day

44.8% of Richmond city County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 14% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Richmond 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 (92)

MECHANICSVILLE TPK

7TH STREET

10TH STREET

CHEROKEE ROAD

5TH STREET

MCCLOY STREET

BELVIDERE STREET

COVINGTON ROAD

MAPLEWOOD AVENUE

3RD STREET

FOREST HILL AVENUE

DOUGLASDALE ROAD

9TH STREET

SBL COMMERCE ST

SOUTH BOULEVARD

HULL STREET

4TH STREET

5TH STREET

NBL COMMERCE ST

WESTWOOD AVE RAMP

9TH STREET

HARRISON STREET

CHIPPENHAM PARKWAY

LAUREL STREET

GRANT STREET

5TH STREET

CANAL STREET

S. ROBINSON STREET

DUNSTON AVENUE

14 ST & TURN LANE

RANDOLPH STREET

FREEMAN ROAD

HOPKINS ROAD

FOREST HILL AVENUE

CHAMBERLAYNE PKWAY

VIRGINIA STREET

ROANOKE STREET

CHIPPENHAM PARKWAY

FOREST HILL AVENUE

HULL STREET

HUGUENOT ROAD

MAIN STREET

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