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.

Compiled by PlainBridges

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.

pre-1900

8
1900s

2
1910s

6
1920s

17
1930s

36
1940s

22
1950s

60
1960s

38
1970s

12
1980s

7
1990s

13
2000s

21
2010s

13
2020s

4

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).

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	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	314	34.4%	54.5%	11.1%	1964
Plymouth County	287	30.7%	63.4%	5.9%	1960
Hampshire County (this page)	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 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).

Apache County, AZ · 259 bridges
Gila County, AZ · 259 bridges
Ellsworth County, KS · 259 bridges
Dakota County, MN · 259 bridges

Similar average build year

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

Tulare County, CA · avg 1959 · 589 bridges
Barton County, KS · avg 1959 · 449 bridges
Nassau County, NY · avg 1959 · 328 bridges
Marion County, KS · avg 1959 · 324 bridges

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

All bridges (259)

Sort:

Hampshire County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

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

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

One structure carries 20.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hampshire 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 (259)

HWY DRURY LN

HWY RIVER RD

HWY HARDWICK PND

ST 66 WESTHMPTN RD

HWY CHESTER RD

HWY KENNEDY RD

HWY SKNRVLLE RD

HWY LOOMIS RD

HWY RIVER ST

ST 9 BERKSHIRE TR

HWY E RIVER RD

ST 9

ST 10 COLLEGE HWY

HWY DOANE RD

US 5 NORTH ST

I 91 SB

I 91 NB

HWY ADAMS RD

HWY SAM HILL RD

HWY SOUTH ST

HWY METNGHOUSE R

HWY PARK HILL RD

ST 47 HADLEY ST

HWY E LEVERET RD

HWY FREIGHT YARD

HWY COLD SPRG RD

US 5 /ST10/WEST

HWY HENDRICK ST

HWY METNGHOUSE R

HWY CHESTFLD RD

ST 66 W HAMPTON RD

HWY CUDWORTH RD

HWY MOUNTAIN DR

I 91 NB

I 91 SB

HWY DINGLE RD

INDIAN HOLLOW ROAD

HWY OLD SPFLD RD

HWY EASTHMPTN RD

ST112 WORTHGTN RD

HWY BARDWELL ST

ST 9 /ST112

HWY CLEMENT ST

ST 32 PALMER RD

HWY BRIDGE ST

HWY LIBERTY ST

ST 9 USMC LGE HWY

HWY ELM ST

HWY NORTH ST

I 91 SB

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