County profile · official public datasets

Piscataquis County, ME

80 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 18.8% rated Good, 60% Fair, 21.3% Poor.

80
Public bridges: 18.8%
Good condition: 21.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

13th
of 16 on Poor share: 21.3%
Poor-condition share: 80
public highway bridges: 1966
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.

Piscataquis County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Piscataquis County ranks #13 of 16 Maine counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 21.3%). Piscataquis County, Maine contains 80 public highway bridges. Roughly 18.8% are rated “Good,” 60% “Fair,” and 21.3% “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 Piscataquis County

Good condition

18.8%

15 of 80 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60%

48 of 80 rated 5-6

Poor condition

21.3%

17 of 80 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 16

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

Condition distribution

Share of 80 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

18.8% (15)

Fair

60% (48)

Poor

21.3% (17)

Piscataquis County's Poor-condition bridges carry 23,363 vehicle crossings a day

That is 23.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 20.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,460 crossings a day against 1,562 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 79 of 80 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

63.8% of Piscataquis County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

51 of the 80 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 18.8% 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 25.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

W MAIN ST over SEBEC RIVER, built 1931, carries 6,037 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 23,363 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

3
1920s

3
1930s

10
1940s

10
1950s

10
1960s

10
1970s

8
1980s

5
1990s

5
2000s

5
2010s

7
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 10 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 12.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1966) matches the Maine average (1970).

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

The 5 Maine counties nearest Piscataquis County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 21.3% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Piscataquis 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 (this page)	80	18.8%	60%	21.3%	1966
Hancock County	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 Piscataquis 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 Piscataquis County, both outside Maine so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ME (80 bridges here).

Moffat County, CO · 80 bridges
Burke County, GA · 80 bridges
Gooding County, ID · 80 bridges
Madison County, ID · 80 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ME (1966 here).

Butler County, KS · avg 1966 · 591 bridges
Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges

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

All 80 Good 15 Fair 48 Poor 17

All bridges (80)

Sort:

Piscataquis County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Piscataquis County's Poor-condition bridges carry 23,363 vehicle crossings a day

63.8% of Piscataquis County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 25.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Piscataquis 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 (80)

JO MARY RD

COVERED BRIDGE

AIRPORT RD

BARROWS FALLS RD

DAVIS ST

ELLIOTSVILLE RD

INV 2100307 RD

ANDREWS RD

HOTEL DR

DOUTY HILL RD

E DOVER RD

WEST RD

ROCKWOOD RD

BOWERBANK RD

SEBEC VILLAGE RD

COTTON BROOK RD

PINE ST

CHURCH RD

STAGECOACH RD

PRITHAM AV

WILSON STREAM RD

PARKMAN RD

ELLIOTTSVILLE RD

HARMONY RD

BRIGHTON RD

E MAIN ST

LILY BAY RD

CHURCH ST

DAVIS ST

MOOSEHEAD LAKE RD

S MAIN ST

KNOWLTON MILLS RD

MOUNTAIN RD

NORTH RD

MAIN RD

LILY BAY RD

BOARD EDDY RD

DEXTER RD

MAPLE RD

BACK RD

W MAIN ST

INV 2100313 RD

INV 2100307 RD

ROCKWOOD RD

S STAGECOACH RD

INV 2100311 RD

GREELEYS LANDING R

LILY BAY RD

N DEXTER RD

EAST DOVER ROAD

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