County profile · official public datasets

Cumberland County, ME

344 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.5% rated Good, 61.6% Fair, 11.9% Poor.

344
Public bridges: 26.5%
Good condition: 11.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 31%
lowest Poor share in state: 11.9%
Poor-condition share: 344
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Cumberland County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cumberland County ranks #5 of 16 Maine counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.9%). Cumberland County, Maine contains 344 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.5% are rated “Good,” 61.6% “Fair,” and 11.9% “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

344

Public highway bridges in Cumberland County

Good condition

26.5%

91 of 344 rated 7-9

Fair condition

61.6%

212 of 344 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.9%

41 of 344 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#5 of 16

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

Condition distribution

Share of 344 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

26.5% (91)

Fair

61.6% (212)

Poor

11.9% (41)

Cumberland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 314,099 vehicle crossings a day

That is 9.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 7,661 crossings a day against 7,230 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 344 of 344 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

60.2% of Cumberland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

207 of the 344 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 26.5% 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 8.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I 295 NB over ROUTE 88 (LAFAYETTE ST), built 1959, carries 27,320 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 41-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 314,099 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

3
1920s

6
1930s

22
1940s

13
1950s

83
1960s

33
1970s

50
1980s

21
1990s

39
2000s

40
2010s

27
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 83 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Maine average (1970).

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

The 5 Maine counties nearest Cumberland County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.9% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 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 Cumberland County and the 5 Maine counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cumberland County (this page)	344	26.5%	61.6%	11.9%	1974
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	229	17.9%	71.6%	10.5%	1970
Kennebec County	188	19.1%	67.6%	13.3%	1965

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ME (344 bridges here).

Shelby County, AL · 344 bridges
DuPage County, IL · 344 bridges
Kankakee County, IL · 344 bridges
Greene County, OH · 344 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ME (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 344 Good 91 Fair 212 Poor 41

Fair-condition bridges (212)

Sort:

Cumberland County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cumberland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 314,099 vehicle crossings a day

60.2% of Cumberland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 8.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cumberland 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 (212)

I 295 SB

MAIN ST

I 495 EB

SCA-CONN NB

RAMP ON FROM SCARB

I-295 NORTHBOUND

HURRICANE ROAD

WASHINGTON AV

WINDHAM CENTER RD

I-295 SB

ALLEN AVE EXT.

MALLISON FALLS RD

MOUNTAIN RD

EXIT-28 SB ON

I-95

I-495 (WB)

1-495 (EB)

I 295 SB

I 295 NB

I 295 NB

I 295 SB

FILES RD

I-95 (NB)

I 295 NB

CHADBOURNE RD

S BRIDGTON RD

I-95(NB)

WASH AV SB

I-95(SB)

WINDHAM CENTER RD

I 295 NB

I 295 NB

I-95 (NB)

I 295 NB

I-95(SB)

I-95(SB)

I 295 NB

I-495 (EB)

I-495 (WB)

FORT HILL RD

ROUTE 196

I-95

I 295 SB

GRAY RD

SCA-CONN NB

SACO ST

I 295 NB

PORTLAND RD

HARPSWELL ISLANDS

DURHAM RD

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