Total bridges
107
Public highway bridges in Barnstable County
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.
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.
When Barnstable County's bridges were built
107 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 2
Built before 1900
2 bridges
- 1920s 4
1920–1929
4 bridges
- 1930s 7
1930–1939
7 bridges
- 1940s 5
1940–1949
5 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
38 bridges
- 1960s 14
1960–1969
14 bridges
- 1970s 7
1970–1979
7 bridges
- 1980s 8
1980–1989
8 bridges
- 1990s 7
1990–1999
7 bridges
- 2000s 8
2000–2009
8 bridges
- 2010s 6
2010–2019
6 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
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.
| 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.
Fair-condition bridges (66)
HWY BOURNEDAL RD
FairOver: ST 25
1.4 M N OF BOURNE BRIDGE, Barnstable, MA
Built 1987 Load: 38.4 t ADT: 3,621
ST151 NATHAN ELLIS
FairOver: RR MACRR (OTIS SPUR)
0.75 M S OF BOURNE TL, Barnstable, MA
Built 1941 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 24,568
US 6 EB/MD CP HWY
FairOver: WATER BASS RIVER
AT DENNIS YARMOUTH TL, Barnstable, MA
Built 1970 Load: 39.2 t ADT: 26,431
HWY ROCK HRBR RD
FairOver: US 6 MID CAPE HWY
1 MI W OF EASTHAM TL, Barnstable, MA
Built 1958 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 4,192
ST134
FairOver: US 6 WB/MID CAPE HWY
0.5 M E OF YARMOUTH TL, Barnstable, MA
Built 1955 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 43,320
HWY WATER ST
FairOver: WATER EEL POND
3.2 MI SW OF RT 28-W.HOLE, Barnstable, MA
Built 1940 Load: 41.6 t ADT: 6,750
ST 28 BOURNE BR RD
FairOver: US 6
190FT N OF BOURNE BRIDGE, Barnstable, MA
Built 1985 Load: 42.7 t ADT: 41,801
HWY NASHAWENA ST
FairOver: WATER W FALMOUTH HARBOR
.7 MI W OF RTE 28, Barnstable, MA
Built 1992 Load: 45.1 t ADT: 4,655
ST 28 SB
FairOver: RR MACRR
1 M S OF BOURNE TL, Barnstable, MA
Built 1960 Load: 46.0 t ADT: 13,603
HWY MILLWAY RD
FairOver: WATER MARASPIN CREEK
0.1MI S OF COMMERCE RD, Barnstable, MA
Built 1936 Load: 46.2 t ADT: 2,785
ST 28 NB
FairOver: RR MACRR
1 M S OF BOURNE TL, Barnstable, MA
Built 1960 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 13,371
HWY KEVENEY LN
FairOver: WATER MILL CREEK
1.5 MI N OF RT 6, Barnstable, MA
Built 1978 Load: 48.3 t ADT: 800
HWY LT ISLAND RD
FairOver: WATER LOAGY BAY
1 MI W OF RTE 6, Barnstable, MA
Built 1920 Load: 48.5 t ADT: 357
ST 28 WAQUOIT HWY
FairOver: WATER CHILDS RIVER
1.25 M W OF MASHPEE TL, Barnstable, MA
Built 1928 Load: 53.2 t ADT: 11,928
HWY OAK ST
FairOver: US 6 EB/MID CAPE HWY
AT JCT SERVICE ROAD, Barnstable, MA
Built 1950 Load: 75.4 t ADT: 6,701
HWY CHEQUSST NCK
FairOver: WATER HERRING RIVER
3 MI W OF RTE 6, Barnstable, MA
Built 1973 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 1,034
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.