County profile · official public datasets

Morris County, NJ

508 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 19.7% rated Good, 74.4% Fair, 5.9% Poor.

508
Public bridges: 19.7%
Good condition: 5.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

12th
of 21 on Poor share: 5.9%
Poor-condition share: 508
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.

Morris County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Morris County ranks #12 of 21 New Jersey counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.9%). Morris County, New Jersey contains 508 public highway bridges. Roughly 19.7% are rated “Good,” 74.4% “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.

Total bridges

508

Public highway bridges in Morris County

Good condition

19.7%

100 of 508 rated 7-9

Fair condition

74.4%

378 of 508 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.9%

30 of 508 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#12 of 21

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

Condition distribution

Share of 508 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

19.7% (100)

Fair

74.4% (378)

Poor

5.9% (30)

Morris County's Poor-condition bridges carry 347,712 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3% 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 11,590 crossings a day against 17,443 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 508 of 508 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

69.3% of Morris County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

352 of the 508 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 19.7% 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 15.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-80 EASTBOUND over HOWARD BLVD. (CR 615), built 1959, carries 53,919 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 30-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 347,712 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

4
1900s

22
1910s

10
1920s

50
1930s

28
1940s

17
1950s

63
1960s

91
1970s

79
1980s

33
1990s

46
2000s

35
2010s

22
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 91 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.9% 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 Morris County compares with New Jersey's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 New Jersey counties nearest Morris County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.9% Poor share is the 4th-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 Morris 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 (this page)	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 Morris 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 Morris County, both outside New Jersey so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NJ (508 bridges here).

Oakland County, MI · 508 bridges
Wood County, OH · 508 bridges
Douglas County, NE · 509 bridges
Linn County, IA · 506 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 508 Good 100 Fair 378 Poor 30

All bridges (508)

Sort:

Morris County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Morris County's Poor-condition bridges carry 347,712 vehicle crossings a day

69.3% of Morris County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 15.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Morris 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 (508)

I-80 EASTBOUND

I-80 WESTBOUND

I-80 EB

I-80 WB

MILL ROAD

I-287

DOVER MILTON ROAD

NJ 24 FREEWAY

NJ10

Two Bridges Road

US 46

STILLWATER DRIVE

MORRIS AVENUE

WATCHUNG AVE CR646

Vail Road

S JEFFERSON ROAD

CR646 (VILLAGE RD)

COUNTY RT 517

SMITH ROAD

I80 I280&RAMPS B&F

I-287

FLANDERS-DRAKESTOW

BERKSHIRE VALLEY R

NJ 183

COZY LAKE ROAD

RIDGEDALE AVENUE

MANOR HOUSE ROAD

INTERNATIONAL DR

SHINKLE ROAD

Franklin Avenue

PLEASANT PLAINS RD

ROXITICUS ROAD

IRONIA RD

Danforth Road

LENAPE ISLAND ROAD

I-80 EASTBOUND

I-80 WB

West Dewey Avenue

OLD BLOOMFIELD AVE

E.MAIN ST(CR 644)

DICKSONS MILL RD

CR621(CHANGEBR RD)

NJ 15 NB

NJ 23

MARTIN L KING AVE

NJ 15 SB

CAREY AV(CR 511NB)

PARKER RD WB

WHITE BRIDGE ROAD

NJ ROUTE 159

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