County profile · official public datasets

Cumberland County, NJ

103 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.1% rated Good, 66% Fair, 4.9% Poor.

Compiled by PlainBridges

103
Public bridges: 29.1%
Good condition: 4.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 48%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.9%
Poor-condition share: 103
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Cumberland County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cumberland County ranks #10 of 21 New Jersey counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.9%). Cumberland County, New Jersey contains 103 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.1% are rated “Good,” 66% “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

103

Public highway bridges in Cumberland County

Good condition

29.1%

30 of 103 rated 7-9

Fair condition

66%

68 of 103 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.9%

5 of 103 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#10 of 21

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

Condition distribution

Share of 103 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29.1% (30)

Fair

66% (68)

Poor

4.9% (5)

Cumberland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 82,679 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.7% 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 16,536 crossings a day against 4,056 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 103 of 103 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

70.9% of Cumberland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

73 of the 103 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 29.1% 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 30% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NJ 55 NB over OAK ROAD (CR 681), built 1972, carries 24,824 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 82,679 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

3
1930s

11
1940s

9
1950s

6
1960s

17
1970s

28
1980s

9
1990s

7
2000s

5
2010s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 28 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the New Jersey average (1966).

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

The 5 New Jersey counties nearest Cumberland County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1968 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cumberland County and the 5 New Jersey counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Atlantic County	207	36.2%	58%	5.8%	1975
Hudson County	202	21.3%	72.3%	6.4%	1966
Sussex County	174	23%	67.8%	9.2%	1961
Salem County	114	28.1%	69.3%	2.6%	1965
Cumberland County (this page)	103	29.1%	66%	4.9%	1968
Cape May County	74	20.3%	67.6%	12.2%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NJ (103 bridges here).

Kenai Peninsula County, AK · 103 bridges
Dallas County, AR · 103 bridges
Morgan County, GA · 103 bridges
Rawlins County, KS · 103 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NJ (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges

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

All 103 Good 30 Fair 68 Poor 5

All bridges (103)

Sort:

Cumberland County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cumberland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 82,679 vehicle crossings a day

70.9% of Cumberland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 30% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cumberland 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

All bridges (103)

BUCKHORN ROAD

NEW JERSEY AVE

CR733(BEALS MILL)

CR634(MORTON AVE)

WASHINGTON STREET

CR670(MAURICETOWN)

TURKEY POINT ROAD

NJ 55 SB

MINCHES LN CR 719

CR 674 (GARDEN RD)

CR553 (N.MAIN ST.)

BRANDRIFF AVE

NJ 55 NB

CR 550(Station Rd)

CR553(MAIN ST)

HARMONY RD CR689

NJ ROUTE 55 NB

NJ ROUTE 55 SB

CR676(HALEYVILLE)

CR676(HALEVILLE R)

Mayor Aitken Drive

CR 552

CR 604 Gum Tree

NJ 347(CR550 Spur)

CR552(SHERMAN AVE)

SHERMAN AVENUE

CR623(CANTON RD)

CR704(SILVER LK R)

NJ 47

NJ49-E.MAIN STREET

NJ 55 SB

GARDEN RD(CR 674)

SHERMAN AV. CR552

NJ 55 NB

BAYVIEW ROAD

CR667(SHARP ST)

NJ 55 NB

NJ 47-DELSEA DRIVE

NJ ROUTE 49

NJ 56 (LANDIS AVE)

CR617(SELY-FINLEY)

ROUTE 55 NB

NJ 55 NB

NJ 55 SB

NJ 55 SB

NJ 55 NB

NJ 55 SB

NJ 55 NB

NJ 55 SB

NJ ROUTE 55 NB

Related