County profile · official public datasets

Virginia Beach city County, VA

119 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.7% rated Good, 59.7% Fair, 1.7% Poor.

119
Public bridges: 38.7%
Good condition: 1.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Virginia Beach 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 32%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.7%
Poor-condition share: 119
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Virginia Beach city County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Virginia Beach city County ranks #41 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.7%). Virginia Beach city County, Virginia contains 119 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.7% are rated “Good,” 59.7% “Fair,” and 1.7% “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

119

Public highway bridges in Virginia Beach city County

Good condition

38.7%

46 of 119 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.7%

71 of 119 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.7%

2 of 119 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#41 of 129

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

Condition distribution

Share of 119 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.7% (46)

Fair

59.7% (71)

Poor

1.7% (2)

Virginia Beach city County's Poor-condition bridges carry 28,799 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 14,400 crossings a day against 15,735 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 119 of 119 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

38.7% of Virginia Beach city County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

46 of the 119 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 38.7% 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 78.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Laskin Road over Linkhorn Bay, built 1938, carries 22,683 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 28,799 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

3
1950s

3
1960s

35
1970s

13
1980s

22
1990s

21
2000s

7
2010s

14
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1983, 9 years newer than the Virginia average of 1974.

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

The 5 Virginia counties nearest Virginia Beach city County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Virginia Beach city County and the 5 Virginia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Richmond city County	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 (this page)	119	38.7%	59.7%	1.7%	1983
Floyd County	115	47%	53%	0%	1965
Stafford County	112	38.4%	59.8%	1.8%	1987

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VA (119 bridges here).

Carroll County, AR · 119 bridges
Grant County, AR · 119 bridges
Stafford County, KS · 119 bridges
Grayson County, KY · 119 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VA (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 119 Good 46 Fair 71 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (46)

Sort:

Virginia Beach city County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Virginia Beach city County's Poor-condition bridges carry 28,799 vehicle crossings a day

38.7% of Virginia Beach city County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 78.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Virginia Beach 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

Good-condition bridges (46)

INTERNATIONAL PKWY

INTERNATIONAL PKWY

LYNNHAVEN PARKWAY

Shore Drive

BOW CREEK BOULEVAR

Lynnhaven Parkway

PROVIDENCE ROAD

WARE NECK DRIVE

CLUB HOUSE ROAD

LONDON BRIDGE ROAD

GRAGS CAUSEWAY

E GREEN GARDEN CIR

Diamond Springs NB

ROUTE 0000

ROUTE 13 SBL

PINEWOOD ROAD

Lynnhaven Parkway

SHORE DRIVE EBL

SHORE DRIVE WBL

SHIPS CORNER ROAD

UNNAMED ACCESS RD

Diamond Springs SB

ROUTE 13 NBL

EBL FERRELL PARKWY

NAWNEY CREEK ROAD

FERRELL PARKWAY

CULVER LANE

NIMMO PARKWAY

DAM NECK ROAD

BLACKWATER ROAD

LYNNHAVEN PARKWAY

DORCHESTER LANE

Kempsville Road

West Neck Road

NIMMO PARKWAY

Constitution Drive

IS 264

Va. Beach Blvd.

GENERAL BOOTH BLVD

VA. Beach Blvd.

Bow Creek Blvd.

WBL FERRELL PARKWY

WBL DAM NECK ROAD

EBL DAM NECK ROAD

Princess Anne Road

Sandbridge Road

Related