Total bridges
395
Public highway bridges in Essex County
County profile · official public datasets
Essex County, MA
395 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 15.9% rated Good, 66.8% Fair, 17.2% Poor.
- 395
- Public bridges
- 15.9%
- Good condition
- 17.2%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Essex County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 13th
- of 13 on Poor share
- 17.2%
- Poor-condition share
- 395
- public highway bridges
- 1957
- 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.
Essex County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Essex County ranks #13 of 13 Massachusetts counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 17.2%). Essex County, Massachusetts contains 395 public highway bridges. Roughly 15.9% are rated “Good,” 66.8% “Fair,” and 17.2% “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
15.9%
63 of 395 rated 7-9
Fair condition
66.8%
264 of 395 rated 5-6
Poor condition
17.2%
68 of 395 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#13 of 13
Among Massachusetts counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 395 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 15.9% (63)
Fair 66.8% (264)
Poor 17.2% (68)
Essex County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,590,672 vehicle crossings a day
That is 21.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 17.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 38,098 crossings a day against 20,809 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 394 of 395 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
73.4% of Essex County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
289 of the 394 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 15.9% 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 5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 1 NEWBRPRT TPK over I 95 /ST128, built 1963, carries 128,520 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 68-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 2,590,672 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Essex County's bridges were built
394 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 30
Built before 1900
30 bridges
- 1900s 12
1900–1909
12 bridges
- 1910s 10
1910–1919
10 bridges
- 1920s 17
1920–1929
17 bridges
- 1930s 20
1930–1939
20 bridges
- 1940s 26
1940–1949
26 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
58 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
95 bridges
- 1970s 37
1970–1979
37 bridges
- 1980s 14
1980–1989
14 bridges
- 1990s 15
1990–1999
15 bridges
- 2000s 34
2000–2009
34 bridges
- 2010s 22
2010–2019
22 bridges
- 2020s 4
2020–2029
4 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 95 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1957) matches the Massachusetts average (1961).
How Essex County compares with Massachusetts's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Massachusetts counties nearest Essex County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 17.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1957 against a peer-group mean of 1961 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 12 Massachusetts counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkshire County | 450 | 34.7% | 57.6% | 7.8% | 1961 |
| Hampden County | 428 | 17.1% | 75.5% | 7.5% | 1956 |
| Essex County (this page) | 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 |
| Franklin County | 314 | 34.4% | 54.5% | 11.1% | 1964 |
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 Essex 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 Essex County, both outside Massachusetts so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MA (395 bridges here).
- Creek County, OK · 395 bridges
- Humboldt County, CA · 396 bridges
- Nodaway County, MO · 396 bridges
- Gage County, NE · 394 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MA (1957 here).
- Labette County, KS · avg 1957 · 349 bridges
- Greenwood County, KS · avg 1957 · 235 bridges
- Greer County, OK · avg 1957 · 230 bridges
- Lincoln County, KS · avg 1957 · 225 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (264)
ST 97 WINTER ST
FairOver: WATER LITTLE RIVER
.4 MI NW HAVERHILL CENTER, Essex, MA
Built 1887 Load: 76.1 t ADT: 24,700
HWY ESSEX ST
FairOver: WATER SHAWSHEEN RIVER
AT SHAWSHEEN RD INT., Essex, MA
Built 1875 Load: 78.2 t ADT: 18,000
HWY GREEN ST
FairOver: WATER IPSWICH RIVER
.48 KM NE. OF RT. 1A, Essex, MA
Built 1894 Load: 80.6 t ADT: 1,800
ST128
FairOver: ST 1 A/DODGE ST
JCT ST 1A & ST 128, Essex, MA
Built 1946 Load: 81.0 t ADT: 72,500
ST128
FairOver: WATER CRANE RIVER
0.1 MI SOUTH OF ST 35, Essex, MA
Built 1940 Load: 95.0 t ADT: 73,800
HWY GLOUCESTR AV
FairOver: RR MBTA
.1 MI S ST128, Essex, MA
Built 1861 Load: 95.9 t ADT: 2,200
HWY ELM ST
FairOver: WATER BACK RIVER
AT BACK RIVER, Essex, MA
Built 1860 Load: 98.7 t ADT: 9,200
HWY TOWNE RD
FairOver: WATER FISH BROOK
.1 MILES WEST MAIN STREET, Essex, MA
Built 1970 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 620
I 495
FairOver: WATER E MEADOW RIVER
1.1 M N OF EXIT 111, Essex, MA
Built 1964 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 63,975
HWY COUNTY ST
FairOver: WATER IPSWICH RIVER
.48 KM SOUTH CENTRAL ST, Essex, MA
Built 1861 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 6,200
I 495 RP M&MERRK S
FairOver: WATER SHAWSHEEN RIVER
NEXT TO I495, Essex, MA
Built 1963 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 16,940
I 95 /ST128
FairOver: WATER SAUGUS RIVER
2.9 KM S US1, Essex, MA
Built 1940 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 119,800
HWY OSGOOD ST
FairOver: WATER SPICKET RIVER
.16 KM W ST 28, Essex, MA
Built 1869 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 5,500
US 1 NEWBRPRT TPK
FairOver: WATER IPSWICH RIVER
.8 MI S ST97, Essex, MA
Built 1850 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 16,700
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.