County profile · official public datasets

Chemung County, NY

256 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.7% rated Good, 54.7% Fair, 6.6% Poor.

256
Public bridges: 38.7%
Good condition: 6.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Chemung County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 19%
lowest Poor share in state: 6.6%
Poor-condition share: 256
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Chemung County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Chemung County ranks #12 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.6%). Chemung County, New York contains 256 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.7% are rated “Good,” 54.7% “Fair,” and 6.6% “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

256

Public highway bridges in Chemung County

Good condition

38.7%

99 of 256 rated 7-9

Fair condition

54.7%

140 of 256 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.6%

17 of 256 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#12 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 256 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.7% (99)

Fair

54.7% (140)

Poor

6.6% (17)

Chemung County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,799 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 282 crossings a day against 4,333 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 255 of 256 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

44.9% of Chemung County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

115 of the 256 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 38.7% 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 18.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

DAVENPORT RD over TRIB CHEMUNG R, built 1976, carries 871 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,799 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

7
1930s

35
1940s

16
1950s

17
1960s

25
1970s

29
1980s

19
1990s

38
2000s

39
2010s

27
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 39 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1977, 5 years newer than the New York average of 1972.

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Chemung County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.6% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Chemung County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Chenango County	256	39.1%	53.1%	7.8%	1975
Essex County	256	48.4%	44.5%	7%	1981
Chemung County (this page)	256	38.7%	54.7%	6.6%	1977
Herkimer County	248	46.8%	41.1%	12.1%	1973
Rockland County	248	26.6%	63.3%	10.1%	1970
New York County	247	13.4%	76.9%	9.7%	1945

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (256 bridges here).

Clayton County, IA · 256 bridges
Brown County, KS · 256 bridges
Harrison County, WV · 256 bridges
District of Columbia County, DC · 257 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1977 here).

San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
Shelby County, TN · avg 1977 · 1,077 bridges

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

All 256 Good 99 Fair 140 Poor 17

Fair-condition bridges (140)

Sort:

Chemung County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Chemung County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,799 vehicle crossings a day

44.9% of Chemung County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 18.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Chemung 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

Fair-condition bridges (140)

RTE 414

RTE 86I

RTE 86I

FEDERAL ROAD

GOLDEN GLOW ROAD

SUBURBAN DRIVE

RTE 86I

RTE 86I

COUNTY ROAD 77

RTE I86

RTE I86

RTE I86

RTE I86

Hibbard Rd.

RTE 13

RTE 224

RTE 13

BRICKHOUSE RD

CR26 CHRISTIAN HO

LOWMAN RD

MALLORY HILL ROAD

LESKY ROAD

RTE 427

CR69

COUNTY ROAD 16

CR17 SING SING RD

CR42 HOFFMAN HOLL

BEERS HILL ROAD

NORTH STREET

LANGFORD CREEK ROA

CR62 MAIN ST

CLAIR STREET

STEELE STREET

BREED HOLLOW ROAD

RTE 223

CR78 SAGETOWN RD

RTE 223

MILL ST

RTE 225

CR29 DRY RUN RD

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