Total bridges
287
Public highway bridges in Plymouth County
County profile · official public datasets
Plymouth County, MA
287 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 30.7% rated Good, 63.4% Fair, 5.9% Poor.
- 287
- Public bridges
- 30.7%
- Good condition
- 5.9%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Plymouth County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 31%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 5.9%
- Poor-condition share
- 287
- public highway bridges
- 1960
- 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.
Plymouth County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Plymouth County ranks #4 of 13 Massachusetts counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.9%). Plymouth County, Massachusetts contains 287 public highway bridges. Roughly 30.7% are rated “Good,” 63.4% “Fair,” and 5.9% “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.
Good condition
30.7%
88 of 287 rated 7-9
Fair condition
63.4%
182 of 287 rated 5-6
Poor condition
5.9%
17 of 287 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#4 of 13
Among Massachusetts counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 287 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 30.7% (88)
Fair 63.4% (182)
Poor 5.9% (17)
Plymouth County's Poor-condition bridges carry 293,076 vehicle crossings a day
That is 5.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 17,240 crossings a day against 14,834 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 286 of 287 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
67.9% of Plymouth County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
195 of the 287 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 30.7% 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 24.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
HWY CENTRAL ST over WATER SHUMATUSCACANT RIV, built 1956, carries 71,009 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 293,076 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Plymouth County's bridges were built
287 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 24
Built before 1900
24 bridges
- 1900s 6
1900–1909
6 bridges
- 1910s 7
1910–1919
7 bridges
- 1920s 13
1920–1929
13 bridges
- 1930s 10
1930–1939
10 bridges
- 1940s 9
1940–1949
9 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
62 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
42 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
33 bridges
- 1980s 18
1980–1989
18 bridges
- 1990s 19
1990–1999
19 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
26 bridges
- 2010s 16
2010–2019
16 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 62 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1960) matches the Massachusetts average (1961).
How Plymouth County compares with Massachusetts's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Massachusetts counties nearest Plymouth County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1960 against a peer-group mean of 1961 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 | 343 | 23.6% | 71.4% | 5% | 1962 |
| Franklin County | 314 | 34.4% | 54.5% | 11.1% | 1964 |
| Plymouth County (this page) | 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 Plymouth 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 Plymouth County, both outside Massachusetts so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MA (287 bridges here).
- Chariton County, MO · 288 bridges
- York County, SC · 288 bridges
- Rockingham County, VA · 288 bridges
- Haywood County, NC · 286 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MA (1960 here).
- Windham County, VT · avg 1960 · 337 bridges
- Cheshire County, NH · avg 1960 · 192 bridges
- Washington County, NY · avg 1960 · 189 bridges
- Cherokee County, AL · avg 1960 · 167 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (17)
HWY FOREST ST
PoorOver: WATER TOWN RIVER
.01 M FROM RIVER ST, Plymouth, MA
Built 1968 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 776
HWY POWDER PT AV
PoorOver: WATER DUXBURY BAY
1 MI E OF WASHINGTON ST, Plymouth, MA
Built 1987 Load: 5.9 t ADT: 1,950
HWY WEST ST
PoorOver: ST 24
.8 MI NORTH OF ST106, Plymouth, MA
Built 1953 Load: 18.4 t ADT: 5,571
HWY WALNUT ST
PoorOver: ST 24
.2 MI EAST OF MANLEY ROAD, Plymouth, MA
Built 1953 Load: 21.0 t ADT: 1,966
US 6 MARION RD
PoorOver: WATER WEWEANTIC RIVER
2 MI E OF RTE 105, Plymouth, MA
Built 1929 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 8,832
HWY RIVER ST
PoorOver: HWY PLIMOTH PLNTN HWY
1.13 KM W OF RTE 3A, Plymouth, MA
Built 1951 Load: 24.6 t ADT: 5,200
ST 3 NB
PoorOver: WATER NORTH RIVER
AT NORWELL PEMBROKE TL, Plymouth, MA
Built 1961 Load: 24.9 t ADT: 37,081
ST 3 SB
PoorOver: WATER NORTH RIVER
AT NORWELL PEMBROKE TL, Plymouth, MA
Built 1961 Load: 24.9 t ADT: 32,900
HWY FEARING HILL
PoorOver: WATER WEWEANTIC RIVER
JUST N OF HORSESHOE POND, Plymouth, MA
Built 1900 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 9,300
HWY VERNON ST
PoorOver: WATER TAUNTON RIVER
BWATER/MIDDLEBORO LINE, Plymouth, MA
Built 1956 Load: 28.8 t ADT: 1,930
US 6 WAREHAM ROAD
PoorOver: WATER WEWEANTIC RIVER
AT WAREHAM MARION TL, Plymouth, MA
Built 1929 Load: 28.8 t ADT: 11,379
ST 3 NB/PLGRM HWY
PoorOver: HWY FRANKLIN ST
2 MI E OF PEMBROKE TL, Plymouth, MA
Built 1962 Load: 32.1 t ADT: 34,314
ST 3 SB/PLGRM HWY
PoorOver: HWY FRANKLIN ST
2 MI E OF PEMBROKE TL, Plymouth, MA
Built 1962 Load: 32.1 t ADT: 35,142
HWY TIHONET RD
PoorOver: ST 25
0.7 M E OF RTE 195, Plymouth, MA
Built 1967 Load: 32.2 t ADT: 1,071
US 44 HARDING ST
PoorOver: RR MBTA/CSX
.5 M W OF EVERETT ST, Plymouth, MA
Built 1963 Load: 33.0 t ADT: 31,681
HWY CENTRAL ST
PoorOver: WATER SHUMATUSCACANT RIV
.5 MI E OF RTE 18, Plymouth, MA
Built 1956 Load: 42.8 t ADT: 71,009
HWY POND STREET
PoorOver: WATER SATUCKET RIVER
1 MI. EAST OF ST 106, Plymouth, MA
Built 1850 Load: 45.8 t ADT: 2,974
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.