Total bridges
47
Public highway bridges in Dorchester County
County profile · official public datasets
Dorchester County, MD
47 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 14.9% rated Good, 74.5% Fair, 10.6% Poor.
- 47
- Public bridges
- 14.9%
- Good condition
- 10.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Dorchester County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
- 23rd
- of 24 on Poor share
- 10.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 47
- public highway bridges
- 1980
- 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.
Dorchester County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dorchester County ranks #23 of 24 Maryland counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.6%). Dorchester County, Maryland contains 47 public highway bridges. Roughly 14.9% are rated “Good,” 74.5% “Fair,” and 10.6% “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.
Good condition
14.9%
7 of 47 rated 7-9
Fair condition
74.5%
35 of 47 rated 5-6
Poor condition
10.6%
5 of 47 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#23 of 24
Among Maryland counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 47 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 14.9% (7)
Fair 74.5% (35)
Poor 10.6% (5)
Dorchester County's Poor-condition bridges carry 586 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 147 crossings a day against 7,682 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 46 of 47 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
31.9% of Dorchester County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
15 of the 47 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 14.9% 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.
One structure carries 34.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
ELLIOTT ISLAND RD over ELLIOTT CREEK, built 1970, carries 204 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 586 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Dorchester County's bridges were built
47 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 2
1930–1939
2 bridges
- 1940s 4
1940–1949
4 bridges
- 1950s 2
1950–1959
2 bridges
- 1960s 4
1960–1969
4 bridges
- 1970s 3
1970–1979
3 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
10 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
18 bridges
- 2000s 4
2000–2009
4 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 18 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 38.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1980, 8 years newer than the Maryland average of 1972.
How Dorchester County compares with Maryland's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Maryland counties nearest Dorchester County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.6% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is 10 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 23 Maryland counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Mary's County | 50 | 26% | 70% | 4% | 1968 |
| Dorchester County (this page) | 47 | 14.9% | 74.5% | 10.6% | 1980 |
| Somerset County | 46 | 19.6% | 73.9% | 6.5% | 1975 |
| Kent County | 44 | 11.4% | 84.1% | 4.5% | 1957 |
| Talbot County | 42 | 21.4% | 76.2% | 2.4% | 1967 |
| Calvert County | 33 | 45.5% | 54.5% | 0% | 1985 |
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 Dorchester 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 Dorchester County, both outside Maryland so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MD (47 bridges here).
- Juneau City and County, AK · 47 bridges
- Jackson County, CO · 47 bridges
- Ben Hill County, GA · 47 bridges
- Long County, GA · 47 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MD (1980 here).
- Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
- Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
- Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
- McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (7)
DRAWBRIDGE ROAD
GoodOver: TRANSQUAKING RIVER
1.38 MILES S OF AIREYS RD, Dorchester, MD
Built 1992 Load: 26.8 t ADT: 570
MD 335
GoodOver: WALLACE CREEK
0.47 MILE SOUTH OF MD 336, Dorchester, MD
Built 2008 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 871
US 50 EB
GoodOver: MD 331 & DP & L RR
.82 M W OF WICOMICO CO LN, Dorchester, MD
Built 1990 Load: 51.7 t ADT: 24,661
US 50 WB
GoodOver: MD 331 & DP & L RR
.82 M W OF WICOMICO CO LN, Dorchester, MD
Built 1990 Load: 51.7 t ADT: 24,661
GALESTOWN RELIANCE
GoodOver: GALESTOWN MILLPOND
1.5 Mi. NE of JNC Rt 313, Dorchester, MD
Built 2008 Load: 58.0 t ADT: 1,259
DRAWBRIDGE RD
GoodOver: MIDDLETOWN BRANCH
4.45 MI SE OF US RTE 50, Dorchester, MD
Built 1950 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 634
LINKWOOD DRIVE
GoodOver: HIGGINS MILLPOND
0.77 MI W OF US RTE 50, Dorchester, MD
Built 1991 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 1,117
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
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.