Total bridges
314
Public highway bridges in Franklin County
County profile · official public datasets
Franklin County, MA
314 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.4% rated Good, 54.5% Fair, 11.1% Poor.
- 314
- Public bridges
- 34.4%
- Good condition
- 11.1%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Franklin County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 12th
- of 13 on Poor share
- 11.1%
- Poor-condition share
- 314
- public highway bridges
- 1964
- 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.
Franklin County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Franklin County ranks #12 of 13 Massachusetts counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.1%). Franklin County, Massachusetts contains 314 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.4% are rated “Good,” 54.5% “Fair,” and 11.1% “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
34.4%
108 of 314 rated 7-9
Fair condition
54.5%
171 of 314 rated 5-6
Poor condition
11.1%
35 of 314 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#12 of 13
Among Massachusetts counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 314 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 34.4% (108)
Fair 54.5% (171)
Poor 11.1% (35)
Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 181,714 vehicle crossings a day
That is 15% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 5,192 crossings a day against 2,489 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 313 of 314 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
66.6% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
209 of the 314 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 34.4% 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 16.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
ST 2 A/MAIN ST over RR GWRR, built 1847, carries 29,483 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 181,714 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Franklin County's bridges were built
314 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 8
Built before 1900
8 bridges
- 1900s 5
1900–1909
5 bridges
- 1910s 7
1910–1919
7 bridges
- 1920s 6
1920–1929
6 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
66 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
29 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
35 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
50 bridges
- 1970s 4
1970–1979
4 bridges
- 1980s 15
1980–1989
15 bridges
- 1990s 17
1990–1999
17 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
30 bridges
- 2010s 26
2010–2019
26 bridges
- 2020s 16
2020–2029
16 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 66 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1964) matches the Massachusetts average (1961).
How Franklin County compares with Massachusetts's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Massachusetts counties nearest Franklin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.1% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1964 against a peer-group mean of 1960 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 12 Massachusetts counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Franklin County (this page) | 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 |
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 Franklin 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 Franklin County, both outside Massachusetts so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MA (314 bridges here).
- Jackson County, AL · 314 bridges
- Cloud County, KS · 314 bridges
- Douglas County, KS · 314 bridges
- Audrain County, MO · 314 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MA (1964 here).
- Bergen County, NJ · avg 1964 · 577 bridges
- Morris County, NJ · avg 1964 · 508 bridges
- Baltimore city County, MD · avg 1964 · 374 bridges
- Ross County, OH · avg 1964 · 356 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (108)
HWY REEDS BRG RD
GoodOver: WATER SOUTH RIVER
@ SHELBURNE FALLS RD INT, Franklin, MA
Built 2004 Load: 72.3 t ADT: 120
HWY STOCKBDGE RD
GoodOver: WATER MILL RIVER
AT JCT OF SO. MILL RIV RD, Franklin, MA
Built 2006 Load: 73.0 t ADT: 20
HWY SADOGA RD
GoodOver: WATER BURRINGTON BROOK
600 W. OF INT. W/ RT 8A, Franklin, MA
Built 2017 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 129
HWY BROOK RD
GoodOver: WATER HINSDALE BROOK
.4 MI S OF WIL GRVS RD, Franklin, MA
Built 2004 Load: 79.2 t ADT: 960
ST 2 @ STA 526
GoodOver: WATER OXBOW BROOK
300 W. OF E. OXBOW ROAD, Franklin, MA
Built 2013 Load: 84.2 t ADT: 4,427
ST 2 @STA 454
GoodOver: WATER AVERY BROOK
1000 FT WEST OF AVERY RD, Franklin, MA
Built 2009 Load: 90.3 t ADT: 5,241
I 91
GoodOver: WATER BLOODY BROOK
.35 MI.S.CONWAY RD STA 33, Franklin, MA
Built 1965 Load: 95.0 t ADT: 24,181
HWY WHATELY RD
GoodOver: WATER BLOODY BROOK
0.5 MI S OF RT 116, Franklin, MA
Built 1965 Load: 98.9 t ADT: 647
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.