County profile · official public datasets

Somerset County, ME

173 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 19.7% rated Good, 56.6% Fair, 23.7% Poor.

173
Public bridges: 19.7%
Good condition: 23.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

16th
of 16 on Poor share: 23.7%
Poor-condition share: 173
public highway bridges: 1967
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.

Somerset County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Somerset County ranks #16 of 16 Maine counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 23.7%). Somerset County, Maine contains 173 public highway bridges. Roughly 19.7% are rated “Good,” 56.6% “Fair,” and 23.7% “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

173

Public highway bridges in Somerset County

Good condition

19.7%

34 of 173 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56.6%

98 of 173 rated 5-6

Poor condition

23.7%

41 of 173 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#16 of 16

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

Condition distribution

Share of 173 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

19.7% (34)

Fair

56.6% (98)

Poor

23.7% (41)

Somerset County's Poor-condition bridges carry 100,635 vehicle crossings a day

That is 24.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 23.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,455 crossings a day against 2,445 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 173 of 173 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

62.4% of Somerset County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

108 of the 173 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 19.7% 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 10.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

OXBOW RD over INTERSTATE 95 NB & SB, built 1963, carries 10,232 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 41-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 100,635 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1910s

2
1920s

12
1930s

26
1940s

10
1950s

20
1960s

33
1970s

11
1980s

10
1990s

14
2000s

17
2010s

9
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 33 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1967) matches the Maine average (1970).

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

The 5 Maine counties nearest Somerset County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 23.7% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Somerset County and the 5 Maine counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
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 (this page)	173	19.7%	56.6%	23.7%	1967
Androscoggin County	135	41.5%	48.1%	10.4%	1974
Franklin County	128	24.2%	53.9%	21.9%	1968

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ME (173 bridges here).

Coweta County, GA · 173 bridges
Henry County, IA · 173 bridges
Johnson County, NE · 173 bridges
Merrick County, NE · 173 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ME (1967 here).

Los Angeles County, CA · avg 1967 · 3,547 bridges
Allegheny County, PA · avg 1967 · 1,294 bridges
Sonoma County, CA · avg 1967 · 609 bridges
Merced County, CA · avg 1967 · 528 bridges

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

All 173 Good 34 Fair 98 Poor 41

Poor-condition bridges (41)

Sort:

Somerset County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Somerset County's Poor-condition bridges carry 100,635 vehicle crossings a day

62.4% of Somerset County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 10.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Somerset 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

Poor-condition bridges (41)

TANNERY BRIDGE RD

STEWART HILL RD

WATER ST

HALL FARM RD

MAIN ST

OLD CANADA RD

RED BRIDGE RD

BACK RD

OLD SANDY RIVER RD

I 95 NB

MAIN ST

N MAIN ST

OLD POINT AV

HUFF RD

RIVER RD

RIPLEY RD

DEXTER RD

I 95 SB

I 95 SB

KENNEBEC RIVER RD

BRIGHTON RD

MAIN ST

I 95 SB

MAIN ST

I 95 NB

SCHOOL ST

LONG FALLS DAM RD

MAIN ST

LONG FALLS DAM RD

NOTCH RD

PLEASANT POND RD

N MAIN ST

SHADAGEE RD

NORTH AV

US 201

OXBOW RD

FOUR MILE SQUARE R

LAST ROUND UP RD

I 95 NB

WEBB RIDGE RD

US ROUTE 201

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