County profile · official public datasets

Salem County, NJ

114 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28.1% rated Good, 69.3% Fair, 2.6% Poor.

114
Public bridges: 28.1%
Good condition: 2.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Salem County posts a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 10%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.6%
Poor-condition share: 114
public highway bridges: 1965
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.

Salem County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Salem County ranks #2 of 21 New Jersey counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.6%). Salem County, New Jersey contains 114 public highway bridges. Roughly 28.1% are rated “Good,” 69.3% “Fair,” and 2.6% “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

114

Public highway bridges in Salem County

Good condition

28.1%

32 of 114 rated 7-9

Fair condition

69.3%

79 of 114 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.6%

3 of 114 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#2 of 21

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

Condition distribution

Share of 114 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

28.1% (32)

Fair

69.3% (79)

Poor

2.6% (3)

Salem County's Poor-condition bridges carry 17,301 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 5,767 crossings a day against 4,096 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 114 of 114 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

68.4% of Salem County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

78 of the 114 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 28.1% 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 40.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RT 48 over I-295, built 1965, carries 7,005 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 17,301 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

4
1920s

14
1930s

7
1940s

8
1950s

20
1960s

19
1970s

7
1980s

3
1990s

8
2000s

14
2010s

9
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1965) matches the New Jersey average (1966).

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

The 5 New Jersey counties nearest Salem County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.6% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 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 Salem 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 (this page)	114	28.1%	69.3%	2.6%	1965
Cumberland County	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 Salem 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 Salem County, both outside New Jersey so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NJ (114 bridges here).

Calhoun County, AR · 114 bridges
Schuyler County, IL · 114 bridges
Brown County, IN · 114 bridges
Morgan County, KY · 114 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NJ (1965 here).

Windsor County, VT · avg 1965 · 483 bridges
Bedford County, PA · avg 1965 · 417 bridges
Crawford County, PA · avg 1965 · 399 bridges
Harper County, KS · avg 1965 · 372 bridges

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

All 114 Good 32 Fair 79 Poor 3

All bridges (114)

Sort:

Salem County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Salem County's Poor-condition bridges carry 17,301 vehicle crossings a day

68.4% of Salem County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 40.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Salem 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 (114)

CR 605

US 130-NJ 49

SHEEP PEN ROAD

I-295 NB & US 40 E

LAKE AVENUE

CR 648

AUBURN ROAD

MAIN STREET

NJ TURNPIKE

POINTERS-AUBURN RD

STUMPY ROAD

CR 581

COURSES LANDING RD

CR 540 & 553

HUSTED STA-PLTN RD

PENNSGROVE-AUBURN

RENTER ROAD

I-295 SB & US 40 W

SWEDES BRIDGE ROAD

AVIS MILL ROAD

HAWKS BRIDGE ROAD

CAMP EDGE ROAD

US 130

I-295 NORTHBOUND

I-295 SOUTHBOUND

CR 643

NJ TURNPIKE

CR 658(HANCOCKSBR)

CR 672

I-295 NB

PLEASANT HILL BRDG

I-295 SB

COUNTY ROUTE 540

US ROUTE 40 E.B.

CR 672 (MAIN ST)

CR 615

STOW NECK ROAD

CR 690 (OLIVET RD)

CR 551 AUBURN RD.

CR 540

NJ 140-HWKSBRDGERD

FRANK SMITH ROAD

CR 620(KINGS HWAY)

WATERWORKS ROAD

CR 603 (WDTWN RD)

CR 581

CR 540

U.S.ROUTE 40

I-295 SB

I-295 NB

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