County profile · official public datasets

Ocean County, NJ

241 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.6% rated Good, 51.5% Fair, 2.9% Poor.

241
Public bridges: 45.6%
Good condition: 2.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Ocean County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 19%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.9%
Poor-condition share: 241
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Ocean County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ocean County ranks #4 of 21 New Jersey counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.9%). Ocean County, New Jersey contains 241 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.6% are rated “Good,” 51.5% “Fair,” and 2.9% “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

241

Public highway bridges in Ocean County

Good condition

45.6%

110 of 241 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.5%

124 of 241 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.9%

7 of 241 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#4 of 21

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

Condition distribution

Share of 241 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45.6% (110)

Fair

51.5% (124)

Poor

2.9% (7)

Ocean County's Poor-condition bridges carry 100,073 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 14,296 crossings a day against 25,204 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 241 of 241 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

37.3% of Ocean County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

90 of the 241 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 45.6% 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 34.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NJ 35 over WILLS HOLE MANASQUAN RIV, built 1950, carries 34,451 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 100,073 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

3
1910s

1
1920s

6
1930s

10
1940s

6
1950s

33
1960s

14
1970s

37
1980s

27
1990s

28
2000s

24
2010s

48
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 48 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 15 years newer than the New Jersey average of 1966.

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

The 5 New Jersey counties nearest Ocean County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1965 is 16 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ocean County and the 5 New Jersey counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Warren County	268	19.4%	76.1%	4.5%	1952
Camden County	261	20.7%	72.8%	6.5%	1963
Gloucester County	243	31.3%	66.3%	2.5%	1967
Ocean County (this page)	241	45.6%	51.5%	2.9%	1981
Atlantic County	207	36.2%	58%	5.8%	1975
Hudson County	202	21.3%	72.3%	6.4%	1966

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NJ (241 bridges here).

Sumter County, AL · 241 bridges
Hardin County, IA · 241 bridges
Iowa County, IA · 241 bridges
Barber County, KS · 241 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NJ (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 241 Good 110 Fair 124 Poor 7

Good-condition bridges (110)

Sort:

Ocean County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ocean County's Poor-condition bridges carry 100,073 vehicle crossings a day

37.3% of Ocean County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 34.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ocean 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

Good-condition bridges (110)

BEACON STREET

NJ 70

CR 528

BEACH BLVD.

LOWER SHORE ROAD

SOUTHAMPTON DRIVE

CR 602 (DOCK ROAD)

LESTER ROAD

Parkway Ramps 89C

GSP SB

CLOVER ST.

THOMPSON BRIDGE RD

GSP NB EXIT RAMP

US 9

GSP SB Service Rd

GSP NB

CR 630

OLD ROAD

US ROUTE 9

STAFFORD FORGE RD

GSP NB

MIDSTREAMS RD

GSP NB Service Rd

COMMONWEALTH BLVD

GSP SB

GSP NB

BURNT TAVERN RD

CR638 FREEHOLD RD

CR609 (E. BAY AVE)

NJ 72

FLINT ROAD

GSP SB

NJ ROUTE 72

GSP NB

GSP

BIRCH ST (CR 77)

GSP SB

NJ 37

LOWER SHORE ROAD

GSP SB

BIRCH ST (CR 77)

(CR617)BAYVIEW AVE

CR 547

GSP SB

GSP NB

GREEN ST (CR 539)

GSP NB

CEDAR BR AVE (528)

CR614 (LACEY ROAD)

RT 528

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