County profile · official public datasets

Barnstable County, MA

107 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.5% rated Good, 61.7% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

107
Public bridges: 35.5%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Barnstable County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 15%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 107
public highway bridges: 1965
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.

Barnstable County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Barnstable County ranks #2 of 13 Massachusetts counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Barnstable County, Massachusetts contains 107 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.5% are rated “Good,” 61.7% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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.

Total bridges

107

Public highway bridges in Barnstable County

Good condition

35.5%

38 of 107 rated 7-9

Fair condition

61.7%

66 of 107 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

3 of 107 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#2 of 13

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

Condition distribution

Share of 107 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35.5% (38)

Fair

61.7% (66)

Poor

2.8% (3)

Barnstable County's Poor-condition bridges carry 75,999 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 25,333 crossings a day against 10,473 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 107 of 107 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

71% of Barnstable County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

76 of the 107 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 35.5% 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 58.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MA ROUTE 28 over CAPE COD CANAL, built 1935, carries 44,240 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 75,999 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1920s

4
1930s

7
1940s

5
1950s

38
1960s

14
1970s

7
1980s

8
1990s

7
2000s

8
2010s

6
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 38 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 35.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1965) matches the Massachusetts average (1961).

How Barnstable County compares with Massachusetts's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Massachusetts counties nearest Barnstable County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is 5 years older.

Showing the 5 closest of 12 Massachusetts counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Barnstable County and the 5 Massachusetts counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Norfolk County	343	23.6%	71.4%	5%	1962
Franklin County	314	34.4%	54.5%	11.1%	1964
Plymouth County	287	30.7%	63.4%	5.9%	1960
Hampshire County	259	25.1%	66%	8.9%	1959
Barnstable County (this page)	107	35.5%	61.7%	2.8%	1965
Dukes County	5	80%	20%	0%	2006

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MA (107 bridges here).

Fannin County, GA · 107 bridges
Habersham County, GA · 107 bridges
Ware County, GA · 107 bridges
Magoffin County, KY · 107 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MA (1965 here).

Windsor County, VT · avg 1965 · 483 bridges
Bedford County, PA · avg 1965 · 417 bridges
Crawford County, PA · avg 1965 · 399 bridges
Harper County, KS · avg 1965 · 372 bridges

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.

All 107 Good 38 Fair 66 Poor 3

All bridges (107)

Sort:

Barnstable County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Barnstable County's Poor-condition bridges carry 75,999 vehicle crossings a day

71% of Barnstable County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 58.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Barnstable County compares with Massachusetts's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

All bridges (107)

HWY N DENNIS RD

HWY LNG PND RD

HWY LOWER COUNTY

MA ROUTE 3

US 6 WB/MD CP HWY

ST 28 E FALMTH HWY

ST 28 SB

HWY S MAIN ST

HWY SHORE RD

COAST GUARD BEACH

ST 6 A/CRNBRY HWY

HWY OLD BSS R RD

US 6 MID CAPE HWY

HWY BRIDGE ST

US 6 EB/MD CP HWY

US 6 WB/MD CP HWY

US 6 WB/MD CP HWY

US 6 WB/MD CP HWY

ST 28 NB

ST 28 SB

US 6 EB/MD CP HWY

HWY HIGHBANK RD

US 6 WB/MD CP HWY

HWY CRANE ST

HWY LOWER COUNTY

US 6 MID CAPE HWY

HWY SHORE RD

ST124 PLSNT LK AVE

ST137 BRWSTR CHTM

ST 28 S ORLEANS RD

ST 6 A/CRNBRY HWY

HWY SHORE RD

US 6 EB/MD CP HWY

ST134

HWY MENAUHANT RD

HWY W YARMTH RD

HWY W YARMTH RD

US 6 WB/MD CP HWY

US 6 WB/MD CP HWY

US 6 EB/MD CP HWY

HWY CURLEY BLVD

HWY FREEMANS WAY

HWY BOURNE CR CN

HWY BELLS NCK RD

US 6 EB/MD CP HWY

HWY AZALEA DR

US 6 MID CAPE HWY

ST 28 MAIN ST

HWY MENAUHANT RD

HWY LIGHTHSE RD

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