County profile · official public datasets

Cayuga County, NY

148 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.5% rated Good, 46.6% Fair, 16.9% Poor.

148
Public bridges: 36.5%
Good condition: 16.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cayuga County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

58th
of 62 on Poor share: 16.9%
Poor-condition share: 148
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Cayuga County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cayuga County ranks #58 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 16.9%). Cayuga County, New York contains 148 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.5% are rated “Good,” 46.6% “Fair,” and 16.9% “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

148

Public highway bridges in Cayuga County

Good condition

36.5%

54 of 148 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46.6%

69 of 148 rated 5-6

Poor condition

16.9%

25 of 148 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#58 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 148 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

36.5% (54)

Fair

46.6% (69)

Poor

16.9% (25)

Cayuga County's Poor-condition bridges carry 46,709 vehicle crossings a day

That is 10.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 17% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,868 crossings a day against 3,489 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 147 of 148 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.7% of Cayuga County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

75 of the 148 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 36.5% 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 65.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE I90 over CRANE BROOK, built 1953, carries 30,507 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 25-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 46,709 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1900s

3
1910s

5
1920s

3
1930s

10
1940s

6
1950s

26
1960s

17
1970s

11
1980s

12
1990s

20
2000s

15
2010s

13
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 26 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1971) matches the New York average (1972).

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Cayuga County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 16.9% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cayuga County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Richmond County	164	30.5%	67.7%	1.8%	1970
Genesee County	162	28.4%	58%	13.6%	1970
Cayuga County (this page)	148	36.5%	46.6%	16.9%	1971
Warren County	141	39%	51.1%	9.9%	1970
Orleans County	136	41.2%	42.6%	16.2%	1962
Wyoming County	136	38.2%	52.9%	8.8%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (148 bridges here).

Claiborne County, LA · 148 bridges
Ravalli County, MT · 148 bridges
Nance County, NE · 148 bridges
Wasco County, OR · 148 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges

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

All 148 Good 54 Fair 69 Poor 25

Good-condition bridges (54)

Sort:

Cayuga County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cayuga County's Poor-condition bridges carry 46,709 vehicle crossings a day

50.7% of Cayuga County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 65.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cayuga 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

Good-condition bridges (54)

GENESEE STREET

Haiti Rd

OAKLAND ROAD

SCHWARTZ DRIVE

OLD STATE ROAD

RTE 90

RTE 38A

OLD STATE ROAD

RTE 38

RTE 90

RTE 326

RTE 41A

CRAINE ROAD

FRANKLIN STREET

GROVE STREET

RTE 34

EXIT 40 RAMP

ERRON HILL ROAD

WEEKS ROAD

N Y CENTRAL ROAD

WASHINGTON ST

NORTH DIVISION STR

Mcintyre Road

Ridge Road

COUNTY ROAD 43C

COUNTY ROAD 45A

E. BRUTUS ST.ROAD

WASHINGTON ST

NUGENT ROAD

RTE 5

Spring Lake Rd

COUNTY ROAD 72B

CREECH ROAD

RTE 38

RTE 90

GREEN STREET

RTE 437

MCINTOSH DRIVE

SHORT CUT ROAD

RTE I90

RTE 38

RTE 38

RTE 31

RTE I90

RTE 38

RTE 38A

RTE 38

RTE 31

RTE 38A

RTE 38A

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