County profile · official public datasets

Waldo County, ME

92 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 16.3% rated Good, 66.3% Fair, 17.4% Poor.

92
Public bridges: 16.3%
Good condition: 17.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 50%
lowest Poor share in state: 17.4%
Poor-condition share: 92
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.

Waldo County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Waldo County ranks #8 of 16 Maine counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 17.4%). Waldo County, Maine contains 92 public highway bridges. Roughly 16.3% are rated “Good,” 66.3% “Fair,” and 17.4% “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 Waldo County

Good condition

16.3%

15 of 92 rated 7-9

Fair condition

66.3%

61 of 92 rated 5-6

Poor condition

17.4%

16 of 92 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#8 of 16

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

Condition distribution

Share of 92 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

16.3% (15)

Fair

66.3% (61)

Poor

17.4% (16)

Waldo County's Poor-condition bridges carry 29,467 vehicle crossings a day

That is 15.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 17.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,842 crossings a day against 2,770 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 92 of 92 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

67.4% of Waldo County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

62 of the 92 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 16.3% 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 26.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

ATLANTIC HWY over LITTLE RIVER, built 1944, carries 7,764 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 29,467 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

11
1930s

12
1940s

10
1950s

17
1960s

8
1970s

10
1980s

1
1990s

5
2000s

6
2010s

8
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 17 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1964, 6 years older than the Maine average of 1970.

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

The 5 Maine counties nearest Waldo County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 17.4% Poor share is the 3rd-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 Waldo County and the 5 Maine counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Washington County	110	38.2%	42.7%	19.1%	1972
Waldo County (this page)	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	64	26.6%	60.9%	12.5%	1976
Lincoln County	63	25.4%	63.5%	11.1%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ME (92 bridges here).

Douglas County, GA · 92 bridges
Taylor County, KY · 92 bridges
Camden County, MO · 92 bridges
Stillwater County, MT · 92 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 92 Good 15 Fair 61 Poor 16

Fair-condition bridges (61)

Sort:

Waldo County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Waldo County's Poor-condition bridges carry 29,467 vehicle crossings a day

67.4% of Waldo County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 26.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Waldo 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 (61)

WATERVILLE RD

SWAN LAKE AV

POORS MILL RD

LANG HILL HWY

JACKSON RD

TROY RD

BELFAST AUGUSTA RD

PURPLE HEART HWY

LOGGIN RD

MOUNT RD

WOODMANS MILL RD

GHENT RD

PRAIRIE RD

SCHOOL ST

BACK BROOKS RD

E MAIN ST

HIGH ST

VILLAGE RD

MAIN RD N

DETROIT RD

TOWN FARM RD

BELFAST RD

VETERANS HWY

E WALDO RD

WOODMANS MILL RD

SEARSPORT AV

ST RTE 173

CITY POINT RD

HATCH RD

MAGOG RD

CAPE JELLISON RD

UPPER HOSTILE VALL

WALDO AV

LINCOLNVILLE AV

Isleboro Ferry Sl.

MOODY RD

GORE RD

STEVENS RD

HAWES BRIDGE RD

PLEASANT ST

W APPLETON RD

MAIN ST

BROWN RD

ROUTE 1 BYP

MOUNT VIEW RD

ROUTE THREE

N MAIN ST

BURNHAM RD

SAVAGE RD

BERRY RD

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