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.

When Sussex County's bridges were built

174 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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 Poor
Gloucester County 243 2.5%
Ocean County 241 2.9%
Atlantic County 207 5.8%
Hudson County 202 6.4%
Sussex County (this page) 174 9.2%
Salem County 114 2.6%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

All bridges (174)

CR 620 (GLEN ROAD)

Good

Over: SPARTA GLEN BROOK

1.9 mi east of CR 517, Sussex, NJ

Built 2011 Load: 74.2 t ADT: 6,382

AUGUSTA HILL ROAD

Good

Over: PAULINS KILL

0.03 MI SW OF US 206, Sussex, NJ

Built 1994 Load: 76.2 t ADT: 1,878

SCOTT ROAD

Good

Over: WALLKILL RIVER

0.2 MI W OF NJ 23 JCT., Sussex, NJ

Built 1999 Load: 84.4 t ADT: 1,028

PASSAIC AVENUE

Good

Over: WALLKILL RIVER

0.5 MI W OF CR 517 JCT, Sussex, NJ

Built 2017 Load: 96.9 t ADT: 1,677

HILLSIDE AVENUE

Good

Over: CULVERS CREEK

0.02 MI S OF CR 519, Sussex, NJ

Built 2004 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 666

PLAINS ROAD

Good

Over: PAPAKATING CREEK

1.8 MI N OF US 206, Sussex, NJ

Built 1987 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 552

COUNTY ROUTE 669

Good

Over: BRANCH OF PAULINSKILL

2.1 MI SW OF NJ 15, Sussex, NJ

Built 1974 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 2,946

NJ 15

Good

Over: WALLKILL RIVER

0.26 MI S OF CR 517, Sussex, NJ

Built 1973 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 23,059

MAIN STREET

Poor

Over: FLAT BROOK

OFF OF NPS ROAD 615 (WALP, Sussex, NJ

Built 1889 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 302

HANEYS MILL BRDGE

Poor

Over: BIG FLAT BROOK

.1m e.Rt.615 2.5m s.Walpk, Sussex, NJ

Built 1893 Load: 8.2 t ADT: 33

CR 622

Poor

Over: Swartswood Creek

0.13 mi east of CR 521, Sussex, NJ

Built 1940 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 3,185

NJ 15

Poor

Over: BEAVER RUN(PAULINS KILL)

.67 MILES N OF NJ 94, Sussex, NJ

Built 1915 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 18,917

MUDTOWN ROAD

Poor

Over: CLOVE BROOK

0.03 MI E OF NJ 23, Sussex, NJ

Built 1915 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 700

CR 521

Poor

Over: SWARTSWOOD CREEK

0.18 mi north of CR 622, Sussex, NJ

Built 1940 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 691

US 206

Poor

Over: BR. PEQUEST RIVER

0.35 MI SO OF RT 517 JUNC, Sussex, NJ

Built 1910 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 19,759

US 206

Poor

Over: LITTLE FLAT BROOK

5.51 MI N OF 206-521 JCT, Sussex, NJ

Built 1929 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 11,457

CR675 (DEGROAT RD)

Poor

Over: LITTLE FLAT BROOK

0.1 MI E OF US 206, Sussex, NJ

Built 1942 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 365

NJ 23

Poor

Over: MILL BROOK

0.36 MI N OF CR 653, Sussex, NJ

Built 1962 Load: 31.8 t ADT: 6,165

US 206

Poor

Over: BIG FLAT BROOK

0.61 MI N OF CR 560, Sussex, NJ

Built 1929 Load: 31.8 t ADT: 16,806

US 206

Poor

Over: DRY BROOK

2.2 MI NORTH OF RT 15 JCT, Sussex, NJ

Built 1940 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 15,621

CR 515

Poor

Over: WAWAYANDA CREEK

0.46 mi north of NJ 94, Sussex, NJ

Built 1964 Load: 44.5 t ADT: 886

ROY ROAD

Poor

Over: PAPAKATING CREEK

0.5 MI SE OF CR 565, Sussex, NJ

Built 1939 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 208

OIL CITY ROAD

Poor

Over: BRANCH OF WALLKILL RIVER

0.03 MI E OF NJ 284, Sussex, NJ

Built 2023 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 317

BLUE HERON RD.

Poor

Over: NEW JERSEY 15

3.4 MILES NO. OF RT 181, Sussex, NJ

Built 1973 Load: 58.1 t ADT: 3,455

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges

Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.