Total bridges
205
Public highway bridges in Carroll County
County profile · official public datasets
205 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28.3% rated Good, 66.3% Fair, 5.4% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Carroll County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size 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, Carroll County ranks #15 of 24 Maryland counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.4%). Carroll County, Maryland contains 205 public highway bridges. Roughly 28.3% are rated “Good,” 66.3% “Fair,” and 5.4% “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
205
Public highway bridges in Carroll County
Good condition
28.3%
58 of 205 rated 7-9
Fair condition
66.3%
136 of 205 rated 5-6
Poor condition
5.4%
11 of 205 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#15 of 24
Among Maryland counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 205 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,608 crossings a day against 4,702 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 204 of 205 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
111 of the 205 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 28.3% 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.
MD 26 over LIBERTY RESERVOIR, built 1954, carries 20,192 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 28,687 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
205 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1900–1909
10 bridges
1910–1919
7 bridges
1920–1929
10 bridges
1930–1939
9 bridges
1940–1949
5 bridges
1950–1959
14 bridges
1960–1969
27 bridges
1970–1979
53 bridges
1980–1989
35 bridges
1990–1999
10 bridges
2000–2009
18 bridges
2010–2019
5 bridges
2020–2029
2 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 53 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the Maryland average (1972).
The 5 Maryland counties nearest Carroll County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.4% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1968 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 23 Maryland counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington County | 300 | 28.3% | 67% | 4.7% | 1956 |
| Harford County | 275 | 38.2% | 57.1% | 4.7% | 1973 |
| Allegany County | 245 | 36.7% | 57.1% | 6.1% | 1971 |
| Carroll County (this page) | 205 | 28.3% | 66.3% | 5.4% | 1968 |
| Cecil County | 193 | 32.1% | 63.7% | 4.1% | 1972 |
| Garrett County | 139 | 20.1% | 68.3% | 11.5% | 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 Carroll County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Carroll County, both outside Maryland so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside MD (205 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside MD (1968 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: ALLOWAY CREEK
0.11 MI N OF STARNERS DAM, Carroll, MD
Over: PINEY CREEK
0.54 MI WEST OF MD 194, Carroll, MD
Over: PINEY RUN
0.80 MI N RAINCLIFFE ROAD, Carroll, MD
Over: GRAVE RUN
ROHRBAUGH RD 0.36, Carroll, MD
Over: MARYLAND MIDLAND RR
0.4 MILE NORTH OF MD 808B, Carroll, MD
Over: NORTH BR PATAPSCO RIVER
0.53 MI S OF WESLEY RD, Carroll, MD
Over: NORTH BRANCH PATAPSCO RI
.04 MILE NORTH OF MD 879D, Carroll, MD
Over: SOUTH BR PATAPSCO RIVER
ON HOWARD CO LINE, Carroll, MD
Over: BEAVER RUN
0.44 MI S OF MD 140, Carroll, MD
Over: WEST BR PATAPSCO RIVER
0.04 MI N OF WESLEY ROAD, Carroll, MD
Over: MORGAN RUN
1.25 M W OF MD 32, Carroll, MD
Over: MORGAN RUN
1.7 M S OF MD 32, Carroll, MD
Over: NORTH BRANCH OF PATAPSCO
0.4 MI E OF SANDYMONT RD, Carroll, MD
Over: MARYLAND MIDLAND RR
.14 MILE SOUTH OF MD 879E, Carroll, MD
Over: ALLOWAY CREEK
.3 MI N OF PINEY CREEK RD, Carroll, MD
Over: GUNPOWDER FALLS
0.03 MI E OF KERN RD, Carroll, MD
Over: MEADOW BRANCH
0.17 MILE SOUTH OF MD 832, Carroll, MD
Over: BEAR BRANCH
1.46 MILE SOUTH OF MD 84, Carroll, MD
Over: MD 97
1.52 MILE EAST OF MD 26A, Carroll, MD
Over: PINEY RUN
0.13 MI N HOWARD CO LINE, Carroll, MD
Over: MORGAN RUN
3.14 MILE SOUTH OF MD 32, Carroll, MD
Over: TURKEYFOOT RUN
0.04 MI N OF SMITH RD, Carroll, MD
Over: SOUTH BRANCH PATAPSCO RI
ON HOWARD COUNTY LINE, Carroll, MD
Over: BEAR BRANCH
1.16 MILES N OF MD 140, Carroll, MD
Over: SOUTH BRANCH OF PATAPSCO
WATERSVILLE RD 2.81, Carroll, MD
Over: CRANBERRY BRANCH
.12 MILE NORTH OF MD 852H, Carroll, MD
Over: SILVER RUN
2.31 MI S OF PA LINE, Carroll, MD
Over: WEST BRANCH PATAPSCO RIV
.04 MILE SOUTH OF MD 852G, Carroll, MD
Over: ABANDON MILL RUN
0.05 MI N OF FREDERICK CO, Carroll, MD
Over: LITTLE PIPE CREEK
0.4 MILE NORTH OF MD 808B, Carroll, MD
Over: BEAR BRANCH
0.68 N PLEASANT VALLEY RD, Carroll, MD
Over: SOUTH BR PATAPSCO RIVER
ON HOWARD CO LINE, Carroll, MD
Over: UNNAMED STREAM
0.1 MI N HOWARD CO LINE, Carroll, MD
Over: SNOWDEN RUN
1.0 MILES NORTH OF MD 26, Carroll, MD
Over: ASPEN RUN
.3 MI E OF COON CLUB ROAD, Carroll, MD
Over: BIG PIPE CREEK
0.26 MI SOUTH OF MD 496, Carroll, MD
Over: GILLIS FALLS
2.51 MILES E OF MD 27, Carroll, MD
Over: LITTLE PIPE CREEK
0.48 MI S OF MD 75, Carroll, MD
Over: BIG PIPE CREEK
0.5 MI EAST OF MD 97, Carroll, MD
Over: OHIO BRANCH
0.55 MI N OF BACKWOODS RD, Carroll, MD
Over: LITTLE PIPE CREEK
0.06 MILE NORTH OF MR 84, Carroll, MD
Over: WEST BRANCH PATAPSCO RIV
0.06 MI N OF TANNERY ROAD, Carroll, MD
Over: BEAVER RUN
1.05 MI W OF MD 140, Carroll, MD
Over: BRANCH OF PINEY CREEK
0.27 MILE SOUTH OF MD 140, Carroll, MD
Over: BRANCH OF PINEY CREEK
0.60 MILE SOUTH OF MD 140, Carroll, MD
Over: SILVER RUN
0.14 MI W OF BABYLON RD, Carroll, MD
Over: UNNAMED STREAM
INT. W/ HARVEY GUMMEL RD, Carroll, MD
Over: PINEY RUN
AT MARRIOTTSVILLE ROAD, Carroll, MD
Over: GEORGES RUN
0.1 MILE EAST OF MD 30, Carroll, MD
Over: INDIAN RUN
0.645 M S OF MD 482, Carroll, 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.