County profile · official public datasets

Oxford County, ME

252 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25% rated Good, 57.5% Fair, 17.5% Poor.

252
Public bridges: 25%
Good condition: 17.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

9th
of 16 on Poor share: 17.5%
Poor-condition share: 252
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.

Oxford County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Oxford County ranks #9 of 16 Maine counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 17.5%). Oxford County, Maine contains 252 public highway bridges. Roughly 25% are rated “Good,” 57.5% “Fair,” and 17.5% “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

252

Public highway bridges in Oxford County

Good condition

25%

63 of 252 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57.5%

145 of 252 rated 5-6

Poor condition

17.5%

44 of 252 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#9 of 16

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

Condition distribution

Share of 252 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

25% (63)

Fair

57.5% (145)

Poor

17.5% (44)

Oxford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 65,556 vehicle crossings a day

That is 16.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 17.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,490 crossings a day against 1,824 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 252 of 252 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

58.7% of Oxford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

148 of the 252 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 25% 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 17.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MAIN ST over TANNERY (BIRD) BROOK, built 1929, carries 11,655 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 44-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 65,556 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1900s

1
1910s

3
1920s

20
1930s

40
1940s

13
1950s

32
1960s

29
1970s

17
1980s

22
1990s

14
2000s

23
2010s

24
2020s

12

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the Maine average (1970).

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

The 5 Maine counties nearest Oxford County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 17.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 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 Oxford 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 (this page)	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
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 Oxford 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 Oxford County, both outside Maine so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ME (252 bridges here).

Montgomery County, IN · 252 bridges
Morgan County, IN · 252 bridges
Harlan County, KY · 252 bridges
Colfax County, NE · 252 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.

All 252 Good 63 Fair 145 Poor 44

Good-condition bridges (63)

Sort:

Oxford County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Oxford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 65,556 vehicle crossings a day

58.7% of Oxford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 17.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Oxford 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

Good-condition bridges (63)

MAYVILLE RD

FDR 52

WEST SIDE RD

BROCK SCHOOL RD

COBURN AVE

FDR 8

DICKVALE RD

FISKE RD

BRANCH RD

EVANS NOTCH RD

BRANCH RD

TEN MILE RD

SCHOOL ST

BYRON VILLAGE RD

VETERANS ST

N FRYEBURG RD

ANDOVER RD

TUELL HILL RD

BONNEY HILL RD

BRETT HILL RD

MOUNTAIN RD

ELM ST

KING ST

ST RTE 232

VALLEY RD

OLD COUNTY RD

ANDOVER RD

SMITH FARM RD

LOVELL RD

GARLAND POND RD

BEAR RIVER RD

BRIDGTON RD

RIVER ST

N MAIN ST

N MAIN ST

GILEAD RD

S ARM RD

HARBOR RD

PLEASANT ST

RIVER RD

GORE RD

MEADOW BROOK BRIDG

EVANS NOTCH RD

MAIN ST

W BETHEL RD

BRIDGTON RD

NORTON RD

SODOM RD

PERRY MOUNTAIN

HOWARD POND RD

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