County profile · official public datasets

Sagadahoc County, ME

64 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.6% rated Good, 60.9% Fair, 12.5% Poor.

64
Public bridges: 26.6%
Good condition: 12.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Sagadahoc County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 38%
lowest Poor share in state: 12.5%
Poor-condition share: 64
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Sagadahoc County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sagadahoc County ranks #6 of 16 Maine counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.5%). Sagadahoc County, Maine contains 64 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.6% are rated “Good,” 60.9% “Fair,” and 12.5% “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

Public highway bridges in Sagadahoc County

Good condition

26.6%

17 of 64 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60.9%

39 of 64 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.5%

8 of 64 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#6 of 16

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

Condition distribution

Share of 64 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

26.6% (17)

Fair

60.9% (39)

Poor

12.5% (8)

Sagadahoc County's Poor-condition bridges carry 26,977 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,372 crossings a day against 4,909 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 64 of 64 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

45.3% of Sagadahoc County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

29 of the 64 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 26.6% 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 70.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MAIN ST over M C RR & A MARSH, built 1933, carries 18,940 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 26,977 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

4
1940s

3
1950s

9
1960s

4
1970s

19
1980s

3
1990s

8
2000s

6
2010s

3
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 19 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1976, 6 years newer than the Maine average of 1970.

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

The 5 Maine counties nearest Sagadahoc County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.5% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1967 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sagadahoc 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	70	21.4%	55.7%	22.9%	1964
Sagadahoc County (this page)	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 Sagadahoc 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 Sagadahoc County, both outside Maine so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ME (64 bridges here).

Southeast Fairbanks County, AK · 64 bridges
Delta County, CO · 64 bridges
Sedgwick County, CO · 64 bridges
Hancock County, GA · 64 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ME (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 64 Good 17 Fair 39 Poor 8

Fair-condition bridges (39)

Sort:

Sagadahoc County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sagadahoc County's Poor-condition bridges carry 26,977 vehicle crossings a day

45.3% of Sagadahoc County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 70.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sagadahoc 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 (39)

GRIFFITHS HEAD RD

ARROWSIC RD

CONGRESS AV

BAY RD

RIVER RD

GEORGE WRIGHT RD

MAIN ST

RIVER RD

WILDER RD

THOROFARE RD

US 1 SB

ROUTE 1N

OAK ST

I 295 SB

I 295 NB

POST RD

HIGH ST

LANGDON ROAD

REED RD

ROUTE 1

NEW MEADOWS RD

BEEDLE RD

ALEXANDER REED RD

ROUTE 1

LEWISTON RD

MILLAY RD

MILLAY RD

MAIN ST

OLD STAGE RD

I 295 SB

I 295 NB

I 295 SB

I 295 NB

ROUTE 196

LEWIS HILL RD

I 295 SB

I 295 NB

DANA MILL RD

HEDGE BRIDGE RD

Related