Total bridges
783
Public highway bridges in Baltimore County
County profile · official public datasets
783 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.9% rated Good, 66.9% Fair, 3.2% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Baltimore County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.
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.
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Baltimore County ranks #8 of 24 Maryland counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.2%). Baltimore County, Maryland contains 783 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.9% are rated “Good,” 66.9% “Fair,” and 3.2% “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
783
Public highway bridges in Baltimore County
Good condition
29.9%
234 of 783 rated 7-9
Fair condition
66.9%
524 of 783 rated 5-6
Poor condition
3.2%
25 of 783 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#8 of 24
Among Maryland counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 783 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 7,744 crossings a day against 25,748 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 782 of 783 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
437 of the 783 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 29.9% 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.
ROLLING ROAD over TRIBUTARY TO DEAD RUN, built 1961, carries 34,803 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 25-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 185,852 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
783 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
Built before 1900
9 bridges
1900–1909
7 bridges
1910–1919
12 bridges
1920–1929
37 bridges
1930–1939
33 bridges
1940–1949
22 bridges
1950–1959
95 bridges
1960–1969
152 bridges
1970–1979
118 bridges
1980–1989
114 bridges
1990–1999
67 bridges
2000–2009
66 bridges
2010–2019
42 bridges
2020–2029
9 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 152 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1971) matches the Maryland average (1972).
The 5 Maryland counties nearest Baltimore County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.2% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 23 Maryland counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore County (this page) | 783 | 29.9% | 66.9% | 3.2% | 1971 |
| Prince George's County | 576 | 36.6% | 60.2% | 3.1% | 1976 |
| Montgomery County | 515 | 38.8% | 56.3% | 4.9% | 1978 |
| Frederick County | 486 | 43.2% | 54.1% | 2.7% | 1971 |
| Anne Arundel County | 389 | 32.6% | 65.8% | 1.5% | 1980 |
| Baltimore city County | 374 | 16% | 75.4% | 8.6% | 1964 |
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 Baltimore County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Baltimore County, both outside Maryland so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside MD (783 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside MD (1971 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: BEAN RUN
.5 MI N OF E. JOPPA ROAD, Baltimore, MD
Over: RED RUN
1.0 MI. SW. EXIT 4 I-795, Baltimore, MD
Over: TRIBUTARY TO GUNPOWDER F
1.9MI E OF EXIT 30 I-695, Baltimore, MD
Over: SOUTH FORK OF WHITE MARS
1.8 MI SW OF RT 7, Baltimore, MD
Over: TRIBUTARY TO WESTERN RUN
50 FT NORTH OF SMITH AVE., Baltimore, MD
Over: PARKS RUN
0.3 Mi. West of MD 45, Baltimore, MD
Over: TRIBUTARY TO MINEBANK RU
0.3 MI E OF COWPENS RD, Baltimore, MD
Over: TRIBUTARY TO PARKS RUN
0.4 MI E OF MD 45, Baltimore, MD
Over: WATERSPOUT RUN
2.63 MI. WEST MD 25, Baltimore, MD
Over: CSX RAILROAD
0.1 MI NW OF US RTE 40, Baltimore, MD
Over: DOGWOOD RUN
200 SW OF HOLLIFIELD RD, Baltimore, MD
Over: CSX RAILROAD
0.1 MI SE OF OLD HANOVER, Baltimore, MD
Over: TRIBUTARY TO HERRING RUN
0.12 MI E OF OAKLEIGH AVE, Baltimore, MD
Over: DEADMAN RUN
0.7 MI N OF TUFTON AVE, Baltimore, MD
Over: IS 695
@ IS 695, Baltimore, MD
Over: LITTLE DEER CREEK
0.12 MI E OF LENTZ RD, Baltimore, MD
Over: GUNPOWDER FALLS
1.3 MI E YORK RD, Baltimore, MD
Over: LITTLE FALLS
1.0 MI W OF YORK RD, Baltimore, MD
Over: GUNPOWDER FALLS
0.5 MI E OF YORK RD, Baltimore, MD
Over: LITTLE FALLS
200 FT S STABLERS CHURCH, Baltimore, MD
Over: TRIBUTARY TO DEAD RUN
0.68 MI N OF IS 70, Baltimore, MD
Over: LONG GREEN CREEK
1.52 MILES NW OF MD 147, Baltimore, MD
Over: STEMMERS RUN
0.05 MI N OF OREMS RD, Baltimore, MD
Over: AMTRAK AND OREMS ROAD
0.8 MI SE OF PULASKI HWY, Baltimore, MD
Over: STEMMERS RUN
0.1 MILES NW OF BELAIR RD, Baltimore, MD
Over: GWYNNS FALLS AND MTA MET
1.1 MI SW OF MD RTE 140, Baltimore, MD
Over: INGLESIDE AVENUE
0.3 MI W OF BALTO CITY, Baltimore, MD
Over: CSX RAILROAD
50 FT N LANSDOWNE RD, Baltimore, MD
Over: CSX RAILROAD
0.5 MI E MERRITT BLVD, Baltimore, MD
Over: CSX RAILROAD
0.5 MI E MERRITT BLVD, Baltimore, MD
Over: PRETTYBOY RESERVOIR
0.3 MI E GUNPOWDER RD, Baltimore, MD
Over: CSX RAILROAD
50 FT W HAMMONDS FERRY RD, Baltimore, MD
Over: BRANCH OF WHITE MARSH RU
0.5 MI NW OF SR 7, Baltimore, MD
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.