County profile · official public datasets

Hancock County, ME

70 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 21.4% rated Good, 55.7% Fair, 22.9% Poor.

70
Public bridges: 21.4%
Good condition: 22.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Hancock County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

15th
of 16 on Poor share: 22.9%
Poor-condition share: 70
public highway bridges: 1964
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.

Hancock County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hancock County ranks #15 of 16 Maine counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 22.9%). Hancock County, Maine contains 70 public highway bridges. Roughly 21.4% are rated “Good,” 55.7% “Fair,” and 22.9% “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

Public highway bridges in Hancock County

Good condition

21.4%

15 of 70 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.7%

39 of 70 rated 5-6

Poor condition

22.9%

16 of 70 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#15 of 16

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

Condition distribution

Share of 70 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

21.4% (15)

Fair

55.7% (39)

Poor

22.9% (16)

Hancock County's Poor-condition bridges carry 45,365 vehicle crossings a day

That is 19.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 22.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,024 crossings a day against 3,055 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 68 of 70 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

65.7% of Hancock County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

46 of the 70 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 21.4% 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 36.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MAIN ST over UNION RIVER, built 1923, carries 16,449 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 45,365 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

7
1930s

13
1940s

8
1950s

10
1960s

5
1970s

4
1980s

6
1990s

5
2000s

5
2010s

5
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 13 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1964, 6 years older than the Maine average of 1970.

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

The 5 Maine counties nearest Hancock County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 22.9% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1964 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hancock County and the 5 Maine counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Waldo County	92	16.3%	66.3%	17.4%	1964
Piscataquis County	80	18.8%	60%	21.3%	1966
Hancock County (this page)	70	21.4%	55.7%	22.9%	1964
Sagadahoc County	64	26.6%	60.9%	12.5%	1976
Lincoln County	63	25.4%	63.5%	11.1%	1972
Knox County	53	26.4%	54.7%	18.9%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ME (70 bridges here).

Jefferson County, FL · 70 bridges
Jasper County, GA · 70 bridges
Treutlen County, GA · 70 bridges
Turner County, GA · 70 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ME (1964 here).

Bergen County, NJ · avg 1964 · 577 bridges
Morris County, NJ · avg 1964 · 508 bridges
Baltimore city County, MD · avg 1964 · 374 bridges
Ross County, OH · avg 1964 · 356 bridges

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

All 70 Good 15 Fair 39 Poor 16

All bridges (70)

Sort:

Hancock County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hancock County's Poor-condition bridges carry 45,365 vehicle crossings a day

65.7% of Hancock County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 36.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hancock 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

All bridges (70)

LITTLE DEER ISLE R

MAINE ROUTE 233

LOW RD

PARK LOOP ROAD

STANLEY BROOK ROAD

MARIAVILLE RD

MAIN RD

ROUTE 1

DUCK COVE RD

TREMONT RD

MAIN ST

ROUTE 1

WALTHAM RD

TANNERY LOOP

PARADISE HILL ROAD

AIRLINE RD

TOURTELOTTE RIDGE

MAINE ROUTE 3

MAINE ROUTE 3

TREMONT RD

BUCKS MILLS RD

PEABODY DR

INV 0901468 RD

FERRY DOCK RD

TREMONT RD

HOG BAY RD

FALLS BRIDGE ROAD

JORDAN POND ROAD

N BEND RD

STATE ROUTE 46

ACADIA HWY

BANGOR RD

BAR HARBOR RD

SCHOODIC LOOP ROAD

UPPER FALLS RD

ONE-WAY PARK LOOP

AIRLINE RD

CHRISTIAN RIDGE RD

UPPER LONG POND RD

BRIDGE RD

PARADISE HILL ROAD

ROUTE 1

PARK LOOP ROAD

DORITY FARM RD

REACH RD

CASTINE RD

PEABODY DR

MARIAVILLE RD

ROUTE 1

MARIAVILLE RD

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