With the Francis Scott Key bridge tragedy in Baltimore, more eyes are on bridges.
There are 70 bridges in the four counties on the Northern Neck―Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, and Westmoreland―according to the US Department of Transportation’s National Bridge Inventory (NBI). The locations are shown in the screenshots of the inventory’s map, below.
In addition to the basics of location (lat/long, route number, state, county, etc.), the NBI contains data such as the number of lanes, average daily traffic, year built, and the type of service on and under the bridge. Clicking on a dot on the NBI map pulls up all the data. Alternatively, the data for Virginia are available as an Excel file (dated March 30, 2024) can be downloaded. Whether referring to the map or the data set, use the NBI data dictionary for explanations of each item.
The data in the Excel file can be manipulated to show only the bridges on the NNK or in any one county. To get you started, we’ve identified the county codes and counted bridges in the region. Lancaster County comes in with the fewest, 10, and Westmoreland the most with 23. To put this in context, there are 14,068 bridges in Virginia according to the NBI.
The Federal Highway Administration updates the bridge data each year on June 15.