County profile · official public datasets

Aroostook County, ME

229 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 17.9% rated Good, 71.6% Fair, 10.5% Poor.

229
Public bridges: 17.9%
Good condition: 10.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Aroostook County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 19%
lowest Poor share in state: 10.5%
Poor-condition share: 229
public highway bridges: 1970
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.

Aroostook County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Aroostook County ranks #3 of 16 Maine counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.5%). Aroostook County, Maine contains 229 public highway bridges. Roughly 17.9% are rated “Good,” 71.6% “Fair,” and 10.5% “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

229

Public highway bridges in Aroostook County

Good condition

17.9%

41 of 229 rated 7-9

Fair condition

71.6%

164 of 229 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.5%

24 of 229 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#3 of 16

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

Condition distribution

Share of 229 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

17.9% (41)

Fair

71.6% (164)

Poor

10.5% (24)

Aroostook County's Poor-condition bridges carry 36,788 vehicle crossings a day

That is 10.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,533 crossings a day against 1,332 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 229 of 229 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

59% of Aroostook County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

135 of the 229 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 17.9% 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 37.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NORTH ST over MEDUXNEKEAG RIVER, built 1944, carries 13,721 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 24-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 36,788 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

19
1930s

14
1940s

12
1950s

29
1960s

48
1970s

28
1980s

22
1990s

16
2000s

16
2010s

17
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 48 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1970) matches the Maine average (1970).

How Aroostook County compares with Maine's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Maine counties nearest Aroostook County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.5% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 15 Maine counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Aroostook County and the 5 Maine counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Penobscot County	301	20.9%	61.1%	17.9%	1972
Oxford County	252	25%	57.5%	17.5%	1968
York County	236	32.6%	58.1%	9.3%	1976
Aroostook County (this page)	229	17.9%	71.6%	10.5%	1970
Kennebec County	188	19.1%	67.6%	13.3%	1965
Somerset County	173	19.7%	56.6%	23.7%	1967

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 Aroostook 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 Aroostook County, both outside Maine so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ME (229 bridges here).

Walton County, FL · 229 bridges
Stearns County, MN · 229 bridges
Itawamba County, MS · 229 bridges
Rockingham County, NC · 229 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ME (1970 here).

Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges

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

All 229 Good 41 Fair 164 Poor 24

Fair-condition bridges (164)

Sort:

Aroostook County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Aroostook County's Poor-condition bridges carry 36,788 vehicle crossings a day

59% of Aroostook County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 37.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Aroostook County compares with Maine'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 (164)

CASTLE HILL RD

BARRET RD

SMYRNA ST

COUNTY RD

COUNTY RD

LONG RD

STATION RD

DYER BROOK RD

WILCOX RD

DORSEY RD

THIBODEAU RD

I 95 SB

NEW SWEDEN RD

SMYRNA ST

MILITARY RD

HINES ST

MILL RD

BRIDGE ST

SHORE RD

I 95 SB

CRYSTAL RD

SHERMAN ST

US HIGHWAY 2

MILITARY RD

CHAMPLAIN ST

OLD HOULTON RD

FORT ST

MOORES RD

BANCROFT RD

CRYSTAL RD

I 95 NB

I 95 SB

I 95 SB

MILITARY RD

FRENCHVILLE RD

ACCESS HWY

I 95 SB

I 95 SB

DYER BROOK RD

I 95 NB

HOULTON RD

NEW LIMERICK RD

VAN BUREN RD

HIGH ST

AROOSTOOK RD

PORTER SETTLEMENT

FERRY ROAD

FRENCH RD

BURNT BROW RD

BELVEDERE RD

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