County profile · official public datasets

Bergen County, NJ

577 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 19.1% rated Good, 76.1% Fair, 4.9% Poor.

577
Public bridges: 19.1%
Good condition: 4.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Bergen County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.

Top 43%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.9%
Poor-condition share: 577
public highway bridges: 1964
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.

Bergen County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bergen County ranks #9 of 21 New Jersey counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.9%). Bergen County, New Jersey contains 577 public highway bridges. Roughly 19.1% are rated “Good,” 76.1% “Fair,” and 4.9% “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

577

Public highway bridges in Bergen County

Good condition

19.1%

110 of 577 rated 7-9

Fair condition

76.1%

439 of 577 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.9%

28 of 577 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#9 of 21

Among New Jersey counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 577 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

19.1% (110)

Fair

76.1% (439)

Poor

4.9% (28)

Bergen County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,118,962 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 39,963 crossings a day against 19,319 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 577 of 577 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

68.8% of Bergen County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

397 of the 577 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 19.1% 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 9.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NJ 17 over NYS & W RR, built 1931, carries 105,573 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 28-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,118,962 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

4
1900s

24
1910s

8
1920s

9
1930s

72
1940s

16
1950s

97
1960s

129
1970s

64
1980s

36
1990s

63
2000s

30
2010s

22
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 129 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1964) matches the New Jersey average (1966).

How Bergen County compares with New Jersey's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 New Jersey counties nearest Bergen County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.9% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1964 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is 5 years older.

Showing the 5 closest of 20 New Jersey counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bergen County and the 5 New Jersey counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Bergen County (this page)	577	19.1%	76.1%	4.9%	1964
Middlesex County	563	23.4%	72.1%	4.4%	1972
Morris County	508	19.7%	74.4%	5.9%	1964
Essex County	505	16.2%	81%	2.8%	1963
Monmouth County	505	32.9%	58.2%	8.9%	1971
Mercer County	414	40.3%	50.5%	9.2%	1975

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 Bergen 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 Bergen County, both outside New Jersey so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NJ (577 bridges here).

Prince George's County, MD · 576 bridges
Livingston County, IL · 579 bridges
Reno County, KS · 573 bridges
Iroquois County, IL · 570 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NJ (1964 here).

Baltimore city County, MD · avg 1964 · 374 bridges
Ross County, OH · avg 1964 · 356 bridges
Franklin County, MA · avg 1964 · 314 bridges
Franklin County, PA · avg 1964 · 294 bridges

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

All 577 Good 110 Fair 439 Poor 28

Fair-condition bridges (439)

Sort:

Bergen County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bergen County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,118,962 vehicle crossings a day

68.8% of Bergen County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 9.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bergen County compares with New Jersey'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 (439)

PALISADES I.P.

NJTPK SNW-NSW RWY

NJ 4

PARAMUS PK ACCESS

I-80 EASTBOUND

I-80 WB

NJ 208

PALISADES IP NB

NJ TPK-TC/ET/CT/WT

WASHINGTON AVENUE

SPRING VALLEY RD

I-287

PALISADES I.P.

MAIN STREET

PARK AVE (CR 92 I)

RAMP B

PARK ENTRANCE ROAD

I-287 RAMP A

RIDGEWOOD AV CR80I

NJ 17 SB

NORTH SERVICE RD

I-80

I-287 SOUTHBOUND

Railroad Av(CRS61)

US 1 & 9 US 46

US 1 & 9 US 46

US 1 & 9 US 46

US 1 & 9 US 46

NJ 17 RAMP L

Russell Ave CR S93

NJ 208 NB

I-287 NORTHBOUND

I-287 RAMP T

DEGRAW AVENUE

NJ Turnpike

OLD HOOK RD(C.502)

DEMAREST AVENUE

US 1 9 & 46

SUMMIT AVENUE

I-287 NORTHBOUND

SO CONN RD RAMP R

UPPER CROSS ROAD

GRANDVIEW AVE

I-287 RAMP B

NJ 120

RIVER ROAD

Westwood Ave.

E.ALLENDALE CR90

MOUNTAINSIDE AVE.

RAMP TO NJ 120 NB

Related