County profile · official public datasets

Essex County, NJ

505 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 16.2% rated Good, 81% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

505
Public bridges: 16.2%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 14%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 505
public highway bridges: 1963
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.

Essex County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Essex County ranks #3 of 21 New Jersey counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Essex County, New Jersey contains 505 public highway bridges. Roughly 16.2% are rated “Good,” 81% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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

505

Public highway bridges in Essex County

Good condition

16.2%

82 of 505 rated 7-9

Fair condition

81%

409 of 505 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

14 of 505 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#3 of 21

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

Condition distribution

Share of 505 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

16.2% (82)

Fair

81% (409)

Poor

2.8% (14)

Essex County's Poor-condition bridges carry 582,326 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 41,595 crossings a day against 24,931 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 505 of 505 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

72.9% of Essex County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

368 of the 505 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 16.2% 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 22.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NJTPK SNW&NSW RWY over PASSAIC RIV PCRR CRR CON, built 1970, carries 130,764 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 14-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 582,326 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

26
1910s

15
1920s

21
1930s

19
1940s

19
1950s

95
1960s

91
1970s

126
1980s

10
1990s

31
2000s

28
2010s

14
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 126 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1963) matches the New Jersey average (1966).

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

The 5 New Jersey counties nearest Essex County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1963 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Essex County and the 5 New Jersey counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Bergen County	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
Monmouth County	505	32.9%	58.2%	8.9%	1971
Essex County (this page)	505	16.2%	81%	2.8%	1963
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 Essex 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 Essex County, both outside New Jersey so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NJ (505 bridges here).

Linn County, IA · 506 bridges
Saunders County, NE · 506 bridges
Garfield County, OK · 504 bridges
Oakland County, MI · 508 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NJ (1963 here).

Worcester County, MA · avg 1963 · 1,014 bridges
Honolulu County, HI · avg 1963 · 682 bridges
Chester County, PA · avg 1963 · 680 bridges
Northumberland County, PA · avg 1963 · 299 bridges

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

All 505 Good 82 Fair 409 Poor 14

All bridges (505)

Sort:

Essex County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Essex County's Poor-condition bridges carry 582,326 vehicle crossings a day

72.9% of Essex County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 22.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Essex 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 (505)

RIDGEWOOD ROAD

MADISON AVENUE

DICKERSON & DURYEA

US 1&9 NB

I-78 RAMPS NE & NW

I-78 RAMP NE

NJ 24 WESTBOUND

NESBITT ST

NJTK INT14 EXT-ALT

Little Falls Road

OAKLAND ROAD

US 1 & 9 NB

US 1&9 NB

I-78 RAMPS 7 & 8

DR MLK JK BLVD

Roseville Avenue

NJ TPK SNW&NSW RWY

CLIFTON AVENUE

MONTGOMERY STREET

SCOTLAND ROAD

SOUTH WALNUT ST.

Scotland Rd CR 638

CHANCELLOR AVENUE

Ramp NT-14

TURNPIKE NSO

PASSAIC AVE CR613

RT NJ 21

RAMP L

I-78 RAMP 4

Parsonage Hill Rd

US 1&9 NB

SOUTH JEFFERSON ST

SOUTH BURNET ST.

WEST OAKWOOD AVE

US 1&9 NB

US 22 EASTBOUND

I-78 EB OUTER ROAD

HALSTED STREET

CORBIN STREET

RAMPS SNI-W/SNO-W

NJTPK INT.14 TN

N.WALNUT ST

CR 506 Spur

I-280 EASTBOUND

EVERGREEN PL SB

SOUTH CLINTON ST.

ESSEX AVENUE

SOUTH DAY STREET

TNW-14 ROADWAY

ROUTE NJ 21

Related