Total bridges
309
Public highway bridges in Howard County
County profile · official public datasets
Howard County, MD
309 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.9% rated Good, 58.3% Fair, 5.8% Poor.
- 309
- Public bridges
- 35.9%
- Good condition
- 5.8%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Howard 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.
- 16th
- of 24 on Poor share
- 5.8%
- Poor-condition share
- 309
- public highway bridges
- 1978
- 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.
Howard County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Howard County ranks #16 of 24 Maryland counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.8%). Howard County, Maryland contains 309 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.9% are rated “Good,” 58.3% “Fair,” and 5.8% “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
35.9%
111 of 309 rated 7-9
Fair condition
58.3%
180 of 309 rated 5-6
Poor condition
5.8%
18 of 309 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#16 of 24
Among Maryland counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 309 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 35.9% (111)
Fair 58.3% (180)
Poor 5.8% (18)
Howard County's Poor-condition bridges carry 46,181 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,566 crossings a day against 20,094 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 308 of 309 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
46.9% of Howard County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
145 of the 309 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 35.9% 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 23.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
TAMAR DRIVE over UNNAMED STREAM, built 1970, carries 10,941 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 46,181 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Howard County's bridges were built
309 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 2
1900–1909
2 bridges
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 10
1920–1929
10 bridges
- 1930s 10
1930–1939
10 bridges
- 1940s 8
1940–1949
8 bridges
- 1950s 13
1950–1959
13 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
34 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
81 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
40 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
59 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
34 bridges
- 2010s 8
2010–2019
8 bridges
- 2020s 9
2020–2029
9 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 81 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1978, 6 years newer than the Maryland average of 1972.
How Howard County compares with Maryland's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Maryland counties nearest Howard County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is 9 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 23 Maryland counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anne Arundel County | 389 | 32.6% | 65.8% | 1.5% | 1980 |
| Baltimore city County | 374 | 16% | 75.4% | 8.6% | 1964 |
| Howard County (this page) | 309 | 35.9% | 58.3% | 5.8% | 1978 |
| 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 |
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 Howard 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 Howard County, both outside Maryland so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MD (309 bridges here).
- Mississippi County, AR · 309 bridges
- Athens County, OH · 309 bridges
- Washington County, OH · 309 bridges
- Franklin County, IL · 310 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MD (1978 here).
- Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
- Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
- Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
- Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (111)
CENTENNIAL LANE
GoodOver: BRANCH OF LITTLE PATUXEN
0.3 MI S OF FREDERICK RD, Howard, MD
Built 1992 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 13,080
AMBERWOODS WAY
GoodOver: TRIB S BR PATAPSCO RIVER
2000 FT. WEST OF MD 32, Howard, MD
Built 2000 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 30
RED DAHLIA DRIVE
GoodOver: UNNAMED STREAM
800 S of Old Frederick R, Howard, MD
Built 1995 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 20
BIG BRANCH DRIVE
GoodOver: TRIB TO TRIADELPHIA RES
1/4 MI S OF HOWARD RD, Howard, MD
Built 2000 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 50
ELIOTS OAK ROAD
GoodOver: TRIB TO WILDE LAKE
1/8 MI S OF MD 108, Howard, MD
Built 1972 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 100
SUNNY SPRING
GoodOver: TRIB TO LITTLE PATUXENT
500 N of Owen Brown Rd, Howard, MD
Built 1972 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 100
BRAMPTON PARKWAY
GoodOver: UNNAMED STREAM
1000 S of MD 103, Howard, MD
Built 1972 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 150
WETHERED DR
GoodOver: UNNAMED STREAM
500 W OF EXECUTIVE PARK, Howard, MD
Built 2000 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 30
PEBBLE CREEK DRIVE
GoodOver: UNNAMED STREAM
300 W OF DEBORAH JEAN DR, Howard, MD
Built 1998 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 25
TIBER FALLS DRIVE
GoodOver: TIBER BRANCH
500 NW OF OLD COLUMBIA P, Howard, MD
Built 2000 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 50
TOWN SQUARE PARKWA
GoodOver: LITTLE PATUXENT RIVER
1300 FT S OF RESORT RD, Howard, MD
Built 2015 Load: 99.9 t
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.