Total bridges
343
Public highway bridges in Norfolk County
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.
Good condition
23.6%
81 of 343 rated 7-9
Fair condition
71.4%
245 of 343 rated 5-6
Poor condition
5%
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.
When Norfolk County's bridges were built
343 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 24
Built before 1900
24 bridges
- 1900s 7
1900–1909
7 bridges
- 1910s 9
1910–1919
9 bridges
- 1920s 7
1920–1929
7 bridges
- 1930s 12
1930–1939
12 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
77 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
92 bridges
- 1970s 20
1970–1979
20 bridges
- 1980s 25
1980–1989
25 bridges
- 1990s 15
1990–1999
15 bridges
- 2000s 26
2000–2009
26 bridges
- 2010s 25
2010–2019
25 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (17)
ST 37 WASHNGTON ST
PoorOver: RR MBTA/CSX
.48 KM S OF PLAIN ST, Norfolk, MA
Built 1948 Load: 17.8 t ADT: 34,137
HWY REVERE CT
PoorOver: WATER E BR NEPONSET RIV
2.4 KM SE OF RTE. 95, Norfolk, MA
Built 1910 Load: 22.1 t ADT: 259
HWY JW MAHAR HWY
PoorOver: WATER MONATIQUOT RIVER
AT MONATIQUOT RIVER, Norfolk, MA
Built 1982 Load: 22.3 t ADT: 23,700
HWY BUSSEY ST
PoorOver: WATER MOTHER BROOK
@ INTERSECTION CURVE ST., Norfolk, MA
Built 1976 Load: 22.6 t ADT: 12,400
I 495 NB
PoorOver: RR MBTA/CSX
.2 MI S OF EXIT 43/RT140, Norfolk, MA
Built 1966 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 36,570
HWY SQUANTUM ST
PoorOver: I 93 /US1/ST3
2.4 KM S OF JCT I93&SR3A, Norfolk, MA
Built 1954 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 18,500
HWY STEDMAN ST
PoorOver: I 93 /US1/ST3
3.2 KM N OF JCT I93&128, Norfolk, MA
Built 1954 Load: 26.5 t ADT: 2,600
I 495 SB
PoorOver: HWY SUMMER ST
MM40 .3 MI N OF WRNTM TL, Norfolk, MA
Built 1966 Load: 26.9 t ADT: 41,765
I 93 NB/US1SB
PoorOver: ST 24 NB
I 93 AT ST 24, Norfolk, MA
Built 1958 Load: 28.4 t ADT: 199,278
HWY CEDAR ST
PoorOver: RR MBTA/CSX
.32 KM NE GREENLODGE ST, Norfolk, MA
Built 1961 Load: 31.4 t ADT: 14,000
I 95 SB
PoorOver: I 95 /US1/ST128
I 95 AT ST 128, Norfolk, MA
Built 1966 Load: 32.0 t ADT: 34,655
HWY PARK ST
PoorOver: RR MBTA/CSX
MP 24.723, Norfolk, MA
Built 1986 Load: 33.0 t ADT: 9,827
I 95 NB
PoorOver: I 95 /US1/ST128
I 95 AT ST 128, Norfolk, MA
Built 1966 Load: 33.3 t ADT: 27,543
HWY S WALPOLE ST
PoorOver: I 95 NB
1 MI W OF JCT. MAIN ST., Norfolk, MA
Built 1963 Load: 33.3 t ADT: 3,000
I 95 NB
PoorOver: HWY CENTRAL ST
.7 MI NE OF ST 140, Norfolk, MA
Built 1963 Load: 34.3 t ADT: 53,000
HWY MAPLE ST
PoorOver: I 495
1.2 MI SOUTH OF ST 126, Norfolk, MA
Built 1966 Load: 37.6 t ADT: 5,148
ST 3 SB
PoorOver: I 93
ST 3 AT I 93, Norfolk, MA
Built 1957 Load: 39.1 t ADT: 41,600
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.