County profile · official public datasets

Sussex County, NJ

174 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 23% rated Good, 67.8% Fair, 9.2% Poor.

174
Public bridges: 23%
Good condition: 9.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Sussex County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

18th
of 21 on Poor share: 9.2%
Poor-condition share: 174
public highway bridges: 1961
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.

Sussex County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sussex County ranks #18 of 21 New Jersey counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.2%). Sussex County, New Jersey contains 174 public highway bridges. Roughly 23% are rated “Good,” 67.8% “Fair,” and 9.2% “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

174

Public highway bridges in Sussex County

Good condition

23%

40 of 174 rated 7-9

Fair condition

67.8%

118 of 174 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.2%

16 of 174 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#18 of 21

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

Condition distribution

Share of 174 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

23% (40)

Fair

67.8% (118)

Poor

9.2% (16)

Sussex County's Poor-condition bridges carry 98,867 vehicle crossings a day

That is 10.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,179 crossings a day against 4,729 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 174 of 174 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

67.2% of Sussex County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

117 of the 174 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 23% 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 20% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 206 over BR. PEQUEST RIVER, built 1910, carries 19,759 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 98,867 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

3
1900s

7
1910s

7
1920s

8
1930s

24
1940s

17
1950s

20
1960s

20
1970s

11
1980s

17
1990s

13
2000s

16
2010s

8
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 24 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 13.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1961, 5 years older than the New Jersey average of 1966.

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

The 5 New Jersey counties nearest Sussex County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1961 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 10 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sussex County and the 5 New Jersey counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Gloucester County	243	31.3%	66.3%	2.5%	1967
Ocean County	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
Sussex County (this page)	174	23%	67.8%	9.2%	1961
Salem County	114	28.1%	69.3%	2.6%	1965

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NJ (174 bridges here).

Hempstead County, AR · 174 bridges
Eagle County, CO · 174 bridges
Washington County, IN · 174 bridges
Lac qui Parle County, MN · 174 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NJ (1961 here).

Westchester County, NY · avg 1961 · 774 bridges
Tehama County, CA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
Berkshire County, MA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
Schuylkill County, PA · avg 1961 · 368 bridges

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

All 174 Good 40 Fair 118 Poor 16

Fair-condition bridges (118)

Sort:

Sussex County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sussex County's Poor-condition bridges carry 98,867 vehicle crossings a day

67.2% of Sussex County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 20% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sussex 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

Fair-condition bridges (118)

POND EDDY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 560

PARK RIDGE ROAD

ROYS BRIDGE

MANSFIELD DRIVE

CRIGGER ROAD

CR 607

PEQUEST ROAD

OLD MINE ROAD

CR 519 (MILL ST)

ROSEVILLE ROAD

BRIDGE STREET

WEST MOUNTAIN RD.

COUNTY ROUTE 619

CR 631

CR 628

SHARP ROAD

OLD STAGE COACH RD

MAPLE GRANGE ROAD

CR 515

CR 565

US 206

FLATBROOK-MILLBROO

CR 611

SADDLEBACK ROAD

Mt. Benevolence Rd

CR 565

CR 603

CR 605

HAMPTON ROAD

NJ 94

COUNTY ROUTE 614

CR 639

CR 519 (Newton Ave

CR 661 (BV RUN RD)

NJ 284

CR 630 (BROAD ST.)

KENNEDY AVENUE

BERRY ROAD

CR 519

OLD STATE ROAD

CR 517

CR 521

NJ 23

SKELLINGER ROAD

KITTLE ROAD

MILK STREET

CR 519

CR623 (Sunset Inn)

DEKAY ROAD

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