County profile · official public datasets

Hampshire County, MA

259 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25.1% rated Good, 66% Fair, 8.9% Poor.

259
Public bridges
25.1%
Good condition
8.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

9th
of 13 on Poor share
8.9%
Poor-condition share
259
public highway bridges
1959
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.

Hampshire County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hampshire County ranks #9 of 13 Massachusetts counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.9%). Hampshire County, Massachusetts contains 259 public highway bridges. Roughly 25.1% are rated “Good,” 66% “Fair,” and 8.9% “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

259

Public highway bridges in Hampshire County

Good condition

25.1%

65 of 259 rated 7-9

Fair condition

66%

171 of 259 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.9%

23 of 259 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#9 of 13

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

Condition distribution

Share of 259 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
25.1% (65)
Fair
66% (171)
Poor
8.9% (23)

Hampshire County's Poor-condition bridges carry 148,211 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,737 crossings a day against 4,366 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 258 of 259 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

75.7% of Hampshire County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

196 of the 259 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 25.1% 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 20.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I 91 SB over COMB US 5 & GWRR, built 1965, carries 29,780 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 23-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 148,211 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Hampshire County's bridges were built

259 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 60 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1959) matches the Massachusetts average (1961).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Massachusetts counties nearest Hampshire County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.9% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1959 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 Hampshire County and the 5 Massachusetts counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Essex County 395 17.2%
Bristol County 384 6.5%
Norfolk County 343 5%
Franklin County 314 11.1%
Plymouth County 287 5.9%
Hampshire County (this page) 259 8.9%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MA (259 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MA (1959 here).

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

All 259 Good 65 Fair 171 Poor 23

Poor-condition bridges (23)

INDIAN HOLLOW ROAD

Poor

Over: LITTLE RIVER

1.61 KM N OF KNIGHTVILLE, Hampshire, MA

Built 1940 Load: 0.0 t

HWY OLD SPFLD RD

Poor

Over: WATER MILL RIVER

1 M N OF EAST ST, Hampshire, MA

Built 1940 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 100

HWY EASTHMPTN RD

Poor

Over: WATER N BR MANHAN RIVER

.9 MI NW OF NORTHAMPTON, Hampshire, MA

Built 1940 Load: 16.4 t ADT: 6,336

ST112 WORTHGTN RD

Poor

Over: WATER POND BROOK

3.8 MI N OF JCT US20-112, Hampshire, MA

Built 1917 Load: 18.3 t ADT: 3,425

HWY BARDWELL ST

Poor

Over: WATER JABISH BROOK

0.5M W OF RT181 NEAR PLMR, Hampshire, MA

Built 1940 Load: 19.3 t ADT: 1,164

ST 9 /ST112

Poor

Over: WATER E BR WESTFIELD RIV

AT JCT W/ LILAC AVE., Hampshire, MA

Built 1939 Load: 20.3 t ADT: 2,685

HWY CLEMENT ST

Poor

Over: WATER MILL RIVER

AT MILL RIVER, Hampshire, MA

Built 1894 Load: 21.5 t ADT: 2,400

ST 32 PALMER RD

Poor

Over: WATER WARE RIVER

AT JCT OLD BELCHERTWN RD., Hampshire, MA

Built 1937 Load: 22.1 t ADT: 12,634

HWY BRIDGE ST

Poor

Over: WATER MILL RIVER

200 S OF RTE 9, Hampshire, MA

Built 1918 Load: 22.5 t ADT: 1,400

HWY LIBERTY ST

Poor

Over: WATER LOWER MILL POND

450 W OF ADAMS ST, Hampshire, MA

Built 1956 Load: 22.6 t ADT: 1,650

ST 9 USMC LGE HWY

Poor

Over: WATER STONES BROOK

.3 M E JCT SHAW ROAD, Hampshire, MA

Built 1950 Load: 26.2 t ADT: 2,548

HWY ELM ST

Poor

Over: RR GWRR

.2 M E JCT US 5 & ST 10, Hampshire, MA

Built 1963 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 13,319

HWY NORTH ST

Poor

Over: WATER MUDDY BROOK

.2 MI E OF GREENWICH RD, Hampshire, MA

Built 1939 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,422

I 91 SB

Poor

Over: COMB US 5 & GWRR

MM 22.8 ON I-91, Hampshire, MA

Built 1965 Load: 32.8 t ADT: 29,780

I 91 SB

Poor

Over: HWY HOCKANUM RD

MM 23.1 ON I-91 NB, Hampshire, MA

Built 1965 Load: 32.8 t ADT: 29,398

ST 9 EAST MAIN ST

Poor

Over: WATER WARE RIVER

AT INT GROVE ST, Hampshire, MA

Built 1870 Load: 33.2 t ADT: 15,517

HWY N HADLEY RD

Poor

Over: ST116

.4 M W AMHERST T.L., Hampshire, MA

Built 1958 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 9,429

HWY GLENDALE ST

Poor

Over: WATER MANHAN RIVER

.7 MI N OF RTE 10, Hampshire, MA

Built 1938 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 6,850

HWY BISBEE RD

Poor

Over: WATER PAGE BROOK

100 SOUTH OF RTE 143, Hampshire, MA

Built 1960 Load: 53.8 t ADT: 905

HWY PERRY HLL RD

Poor

Over: WATER N BR MANHAN RIVER

2M S OF PINE ISLAND LAKE, Hampshire, MA

Built 1956 Load: 80.4 t ADT: 259

HWY MAIN ST LEED

Poor

Over: WATER S CHANNEL MILL RIV

200 N OF ARCH ST, Hampshire, MA

Built 1850 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 2,008

HWY MAIN ST LEED

Poor

Over: WATER N CHANNEL MILL RIV

200 N OF ARCH ST, Hampshire, MA

Built 1850 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 2,008

HWY MORGAN ST

Poor

Over: WATER STONY BROOK

.2 MILE EAST OF RTE 116, Hampshire, MA

Built 1949 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 2,974

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.