County profile · official public datasets

Berkshire County, MA

450 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.7% rated Good, 57.6% Fair, 7.8% Poor.

450
Public bridges: 34.7%
Good condition: 7.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Berkshire County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

8th
of 13 on Poor share: 7.8%
Poor-condition share: 450
public highway bridges: 1961
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.

Berkshire County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Berkshire County ranks #8 of 13 Massachusetts counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.8%). Berkshire County, Massachusetts contains 450 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.7% are rated “Good,” 57.6% “Fair,” and 7.8% “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

450

Public highway bridges in Berkshire County

Good condition

34.7%

156 of 450 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57.6%

259 of 450 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.8%

35 of 450 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#8 of 13

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

Condition distribution

Share of 450 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.7% (156)

Fair

57.6% (259)

Poor

7.8% (35)

Berkshire County's Poor-condition bridges carry 122,131 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,489 crossings a day against 2,864 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 450 of 450 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

71.6% of Berkshire County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

322 of the 450 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 34.7% 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 17.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 20 /US7/SOUTH over RR HRR, built 1900, carries 21,457 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 35-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 122,131 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

5
1900s

12
1910s

9
1920s

18
1930s

94
1940s

30
1950s

121
1960s

21
1970s

19
1980s

14
1990s

26
2000s

35
2010s

32
2020s

14

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 121 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1961) matches the Massachusetts average (1961).

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

The 5 Massachusetts counties nearest Berkshire County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1961 against a peer-group mean of 1961 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Berkshire County and the 5 Massachusetts counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Suffolk County	489	22.7%	67.7%	9.6%	1967
Berkshire County (this page)	450	34.7%	57.6%	7.8%	1961
Hampden County	428	17.1%	75.5%	7.5%	1956
Essex County	395	15.9%	66.8%	17.2%	1957
Bristol County	384	30.2%	63.3%	6.5%	1962
Norfolk County	343	23.6%	71.4%	5%	1962

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MA (450 bridges here).

Tehama County, CA · 450 bridges
Delaware County, NY · 450 bridges
Lincoln County, OK · 450 bridges
Washington County, AR · 449 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MA (1961 here).

Westchester County, NY · avg 1961 · 774 bridges
Schuylkill County, PA · avg 1961 · 368 bridges
Columbiana County, OH · avg 1961 · 321 bridges

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

All 450 Good 156 Fair 259 Poor 35

Good-condition bridges (156)

Sort:

Berkshire County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Berkshire County's Poor-condition bridges carry 122,131 vehicle crossings a day

71.6% of Berkshire County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 17.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Berkshire 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

Good-condition bridges (156)

HWY VALLEY ST

HWY NORFOLK RD

HWY WOODLAWN AV

HWY SUMMIT RD

HWY POTTER MTN

HWY COOK RD

HWY LIME ST

HWY HANCOCK RD

HWY PECKS RD

HWY MILL ST

HWY PROTECTION

US 20 LAUREL ST

HWY LOWER VALLEY

HWY WALLING RD

US 20 CHESTER RD

HWY CLEVELAND RD

HWY CAMPBEL FALL

HWY CENTER ST

HWY GOULD RD

HWY MILLER AVE

I 90 EB

HWY WASH MTN RD

HWY COLE AVE

HWY HARBOR RD

HWY LEBANON AVE

US 20 CHESTER RD

HWY PUTNAM RD

HWY CHAPEL ST

HWY NEW LENOX RD

HWY MILL ST

ST 41 CNTRL BKSHRE

HWY CLARK RD EXT

HWY MONTEREY RD

HWY HOPPER RD

HWY SHEFFIELD RD

US 7 SIMONDS RD

HWY LOWR WEST ST

ST 7 A/ASHLEY FLS

HWY WINDSOR BUSH

HWY NORFOLK RD

HWY HASKINS RD#1

US 7 /ST2/CLD SPR

HWY MCAULEY RD

HWY POMEROY AVE

ST 23 /ST41/MAPLE

US 20 CHESTER RD

HWY EAST RD

HWY GALE AVE

HWY DEAN ST

ST 2

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