Total bridges
128
Public highway bridges in Franklin County
County profile · official public datasets
Franklin County, ME
128 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 24.2% rated Good, 53.9% Fair, 21.9% Poor.
- 128
- Public bridges
- 24.2%
- Good condition
- 21.9%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Franklin County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 14th
- of 16 on Poor share
- 21.9%
- Poor-condition share
- 128
- public highway bridges
- 1968
- 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.
Franklin County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Franklin County ranks #14 of 16 Maine counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 21.9%). Franklin County, Maine contains 128 public highway bridges. Roughly 24.2% are rated “Good,” 53.9% “Fair,” and 21.9% “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.
Good condition
24.2%
31 of 128 rated 7-9
Fair condition
53.9%
69 of 128 rated 5-6
Poor condition
21.9%
28 of 128 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#14 of 16
Among Maine counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 128 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 24.2% (31)
Fair 53.9% (69)
Poor 21.9% (28)
Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 29,055 vehicle crossings a day
That is 13.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 22% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,038 crossings a day against 2,317 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 127 of 128 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
57.8% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
74 of the 128 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 24.2% 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 20.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
LUCY KNOWLES RD over WILSON STREAM, built 1937, carries 6,000 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 28-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 29,055 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Franklin County's bridges were built
128 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1920s
1920–1929
13 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
15 bridges
- 1940s 8
1940–1949
8 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
21 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
12 bridges
- 1970s 5
1970–1979
5 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
12 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
13 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
10 bridges
- 2010s 6
2010–2019
6 bridges
- 2020s
2020–2029
10 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 21 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the Maine average (1970).
How Franklin County compares with Maine's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Maine counties nearest Franklin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 21.9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 15 Maine counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Somerset County | 173 | 19.7% | 56.6% | 23.7% | 1967 |
| Androscoggin County | 135 | 41.5% | 48.1% | 10.4% | 1974 |
| Franklin County (this page) | 128 | 24.2% | 53.9% | 21.9% | 1968 |
| Washington County | 110 | 38.2% | 42.7% | 19.1% | 1972 |
| Waldo County | 92 | 16.3% | 66.3% | 17.4% | 1964 |
| Piscataquis County | 80 | 18.8% | 60% | 21.3% | 1966 |
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 Franklin 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 Franklin County, both outside Maine so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside ME (128 bridges here).
- Custer County, ID · 128 bridges
- Harper County, OK · 128 bridges
- Dillon County, SC · 128 bridges
- Cheatham County, TN · 128 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside ME (1968 here).
- Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
- San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
- Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
- Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (69)
AVON VALLEY RD
FairOver: VALLEY BROOK
1.9 MI WLY ROUTE 4, Franklin, ME
Built 1967 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 429
CARRABASSETT RD
FairOver: STRATTON BROOK
0.2 MI S OF EUSTIS TL, Franklin, ME
Built 1929 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 2,521
FAIRBANKS RD
FairOver: BARKER STREAM
0.1 SLY JCT RTES 4 & 27, Franklin, ME
Built 1960 Load: 41.8 t ADT: 6,188
MERCER RD
FairOver: FILLIBROWN BROOK
1.5 MI E OF JCT RTE 27, Franklin, ME
Built 1955 Load: 42.8 t ADT: 4,731
W SIDE RD
FairOver: WEST BROOK
1.9 MI W JCT 142, Franklin, ME
Built 1953 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 269
CEMETERY RD
FairOver: WILSON STREAM
.2 MI N JCT US 2, Franklin, ME
Built 1964 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 962
W FREEMAN RD
FairOver: BEAN BROOK
0.1 MI SLY FREEMAN TL, Franklin, ME
Built 1949 Load: 46.7 t ADT: 370
WILSONS MILLS RD
FairOver: KENNEBAGO RIVER
1.3 MI NW OF JCT RTE 4, Franklin, ME
Built 1980 Load: 47.0 t ADT: 679
MAIN ST
FairOver: SOUTH BRANCH DEAD RIVER
0.8 MI N OF JCT RTE 16, Franklin, ME
Built 1988 Load: 47.6 t ADT: 1,527
US RT 2 E
FairOver: WILSON STREAM
1.2 MI W OF FARMINGTON, Franklin, ME
Built 1962 Load: 48.6 t ADT: 9,341
NEW VINEYARD RD
FairOver: LEMON STREAM
.4 MI S OF NEW PORTLAND, Franklin, ME
Built 1954 Load: 50.2 t ADT: 2,924
FARMINGTON FALLS R
FairOver: MUDDY BROOK
3 MI ELY OF FARMINGTON, Franklin, ME
Built 2002 Load: 55.1 t ADT: 7,894
THE ARNOLD TRL
FairOver: NORTH BRANCH DEAD RIVER
250 FT N OF ALDER STR TWP, Franklin, ME
Built 1934 Load: 55.4 t ADT: 609
E MADRID RD
FairOver: PERHAM STREAM
4 MI NW RTE 142, Franklin, ME
Built 1996 Load: 58.3 t ADT: 77
W FREEMAN RD
FairOver: BEAN BROOK
0.5 MI N OF STRONG, Franklin, ME
Built 1960 Load: 63.8 t ADT: 370
THE ARNOLD TRL
FairOver: CLEAR BROOK
3.8 MI N OF ALDER STR TWP, Franklin, ME
Built 1974 Load: 64.5 t ADT: 584
W MILLS RD
FairOver: LEMON STREAM
.1MI WLY ANSON T L, Franklin, ME
Built 1988 Load: 64.5 t ADT: 359
DIXFIELD RD
FairOver: HOUGHTON BRK
0.3 MI Wly RTE 156, Franklin, ME
Built 1952 Load: 67.1 t ADT: 788
THE ARNOLD TRL
FairOver: GOLD BROOK
0.8 MI N OF ALDER STRIP, Franklin, ME
Built 1982 Load: 97.2 t ADT: 609
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.