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.

Compiled by PlainBridges

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.

Total bridges

314

Public highway bridges in Franklin County

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.

pre-1900

8
1900s

5
1910s

7
1920s

6
1930s

66
1940s

29
1950s

35
1960s

50
1970s

4
1980s

15
1990s

17
2000s

30
2010s

26
2020s

16

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Franklin County and the 5 Massachusetts counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

All 314 Good 108 Fair 171 Poor 35

All bridges (314)

Sort:

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 181,714 vehicle crossings a day

66.6% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 16.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Franklin 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 (314)

HWY NORTH ST

ST112 JCKSNVLLE RD

HWY REEDS BRG RD

HWY W LEYDEN RD

HWY S FERRY RD

ST 2

ST116 CONWAY RD

HWY BNNTT BRK RD

ST116 CONWAY RD

HWY WATSON RD

HWY CLESSN BK RD

ST 2 @ STA 511

HWY MOUNTAIN RD

HWY HEATH RD

I 91 SB

I 91 NB

HWY WILLMSBRG RD

HWY SHELBRN FLS

HWY N RIVER RD

HWY WNDL DEPO RD

HWY FOX HILL RD

ST112 ASHFIELD RD

HWY SAVOY RD

HWY ZOAR RD

HWY FISK MILL RD

HWY ADAMSVLLE RD

HWY CONWAY RD

I 91 NB

I 91 SB

ST 2 MOWHAWK TRAI

ST 2

HWY SWAMP RD

HWY GREEN RIV RD

ST 2 MOHAWK TRAIL

HWY REIL LANE

US 5 BRATLBORO RD

HWY DAVIS RD

ST112 JCKSNVLLE RD

HWY HICK RDGE RD

HWY MAXWELL RD

HWY LEON HERZIG

HWY PUDNG HLW RD

ST 2

HWY CONWAY RD

ST112 ASHFIELD RD

HWY UPPER ST

HWY WILLMSBRG RD

HWY ROWE RD

ST116

HWY HOLTSHIRE RD

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