County profile · official public datasets

Norfolk County, MA

343 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 23.6% rated Good, 71.4% Fair, 5% Poor.

343
Public bridges: 23.6%
Good condition: 5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Norfolk County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 23%
lowest Poor share in state: 5%
Poor-condition share: 343
public highway bridges: 1962
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.

Norfolk County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Norfolk County ranks #3 of 13 Massachusetts counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5%). Norfolk County, Massachusetts contains 343 public highway bridges. Roughly 23.6% are rated “Good,” 71.4% “Fair,” and 5% “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

343

Public highway bridges in Norfolk County

Good condition

23.6%

81 of 343 rated 7-9

Fair condition

71.4%

245 of 343 rated 5-6

Poor condition

17 of 343 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#3 of 13

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

Condition distribution

Share of 343 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

23.6% (81)

Fair

71.4% (245)

Poor

5% (17)

Norfolk County's Poor-condition bridges carry 557,982 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 32,822 crossings a day against 37,678 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 342 of 343 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

70.3% of Norfolk County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

241 of the 343 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 23.6% 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 35.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I 93 NB/US1SB over ST 24 NB, built 1958, carries 199,278 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 557,982 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

24
1900s

7
1910s

9
1920s

7
1930s

12
1940s

3
1950s

77
1960s

92
1970s

20
1980s

25
1990s

15
2000s

26
2010s

25
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 92 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1962) matches the Massachusetts average (1961).

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

The 5 Massachusetts counties nearest Norfolk County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1962 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 Norfolk 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 (this page)	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	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 Norfolk 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 Norfolk County, both outside Massachusetts so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MA (343 bridges here).

Wayne County, IN · 343 bridges
Mower County, MN · 343 bridges
Albany County, NY · 343 bridges
Shelby County, AL · 344 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MA (1962 here).

Berks County, PA · avg 1962 · 667 bridges
Pecos County, TX · avg 1962 · 470 bridges
Ottawa County, KS · avg 1962 · 295 bridges
Tillman County, OK · avg 1962 · 284 bridges

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

All 343 Good 81 Fair 245 Poor 17

Fair-condition bridges (245)

Sort:

Norfolk County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Norfolk County's Poor-condition bridges carry 557,982 vehicle crossings a day

70.3% of Norfolk County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Norfolk 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

Fair-condition bridges (245)

HWY UNION ST EB

I 93 SB CONNECTOR

HWY PNDRGST C SO

HWY PNDRGST C NO

HWY CURVE ST

ST 3

HWY ASPINWALL AV

HWY MAPLE ST

HWY WATER ST

HWY BROOK RD

HWY ADAMS ST

HWY OLD SHEPARD

HWY SUMNER RD

HWY WASHNGTON ST

ST 3 RAMPS D&E

HWY THACHER ST

HWY HANCOCK ST

HWY WINTHROP ST

HWY CENTRE ST

HWY ADAMS&BLV ST

HWY AMES ST

I 95 NB

HWY QNCY SHOR DR

I 95 SB/US1/ST128

HWY LIB IND PKWY

HWY GREENDALE AV

HWY ORCHARD ST

HWY UNION ST WB

HWY MIDDLE ST

ST140 W CENTRAL ST

HWY LINCOLN ST

ST 3 OFF RAMP NB

US 1 WASHNGTON ST

ST140 E CENTRAL ST

HWY WASHNGTON ST

HWY SOUTH ST

I 495

ST 9 WORCESTER ST

ST 3 & RAMPS

HWY NEPONSET ST

HWY BORDER ST

ST135 DEDHAM AVE

HWY GREENDALE AV

HWY WASHNGTON ST

ST 18 MAIN ST

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