County profile · official public datasets

Albany County, NY

343 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.7% rated Good, 65% Fair, 5.2% Poor.

343
Public bridges: 29.7%
Good condition: 5.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 15%
lowest Poor share in state: 5.2%
Poor-condition share: 343
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Albany County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Albany County ranks #9 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.2%). Albany County, New York contains 343 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.7% are rated “Good,” 65% “Fair,” and 5.2% “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

343

Public highway bridges in Albany County

Good condition

29.7%

102 of 343 rated 7-9

Fair condition

65%

223 of 343 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.2%

18 of 343 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#9 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 343 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29.7% (102)

Fair

65% (223)

Poor

5.2% (18)

Albany County's Poor-condition bridges carry 228,782 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 12,710 crossings a day against 14,364 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 333 of 343 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

56% of Albany County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

192 of the 343 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 29.7% 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 33% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE I787 over LITTLE RIVER, built 1971, carries 75,462 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 228,782 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

5
1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

2
1930s

22
1940s

8
1950s

43
1960s

56
1970s

64
1980s

46
1990s

33
2000s

38
2010s

19
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 64 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the New York average (1972).

How Albany County compares with New York's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 New York counties nearest Albany County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.2% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1968 is 7 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 61 New York counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Albany County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Suffolk County	369	27.1%	71.5%	1.4%	1968
Sullivan County	365	39.2%	53.2%	7.7%	1975
Albany County (this page)	343	29.7%	65%	5.2%	1975
Dutchess County	332	22.6%	60.8%	16.6%	1967
Nassau County	328	28.4%	70.4%	1.2%	1959
Jefferson County	316	41.5%	47.8%	10.8%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (343 bridges here).

Wayne County, IN · 343 bridges
Norfolk County, MA · 343 bridges
Mower County, MN · 343 bridges
Shelby County, AL · 344 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 343 Good 102 Fair 223 Poor 18

All bridges (343)

Sort:

Albany County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Albany County's Poor-condition bridges carry 228,782 vehicle crossings a day

56% of Albany County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 33% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Albany County compares with New York'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 (343)

RTE I787

KRUEGER ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 102

COUNTY ROAD 401

RTE I87

RTE 396

ALBANY CITY STREET

LOBDELL MILL ROAD

MARSHALL ROAD

RTE I90

COUNTY ROAD 301

NILES ROAD

RTE 20

RTE I90

RT7-RT9 CONNECTOR

787NB TO SMX EB

CLINTON AVE RAMP

RTE 912

RTE 143

SH 85 SB

SH 85 NB

SAYRE ROAD

RTE I87

RTE 890

SPARROWBUSH RD

RTE 787

RTE I90

RTE I87

LOUDONVILLE ROAD

RAMP I90WB TO 9SB

RAMP 787 SB to CLI

RTE 2

RTE 2

RTE 9W

RTE 20

RTE 32

RTE 85

RTE 146

SHOP CTR

RTE 378

RTE 378

RTE I787

FROM 87I SB

RTE I87

RTE 87

RTE 443

RTE I90

RTE I90

RTE I90

NORTHERN BLVD

Related