County profile · official public datasets

Columbia County, NY

243 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 17.7% rated Good, 64.2% Fair, 18.1% Poor.

243
Public bridges: 17.7%
Good condition: 18.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Columbia 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.

60th
of 62 on Poor share: 18.1%
Poor-condition share: 243
public highway bridges: 1963
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.

Columbia County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Columbia County ranks #60 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 18.1%). Columbia County, New York contains 243 public highway bridges. Roughly 17.7% are rated “Good,” 64.2% “Fair,” and 18.1% “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

243

Public highway bridges in Columbia County

Good condition

17.7%

43 of 243 rated 7-9

Fair condition

64.2%

156 of 243 rated 5-6

Poor condition

18.1%

44 of 243 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#60 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 243 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

17.7% (43)

Fair

64.2% (156)

Poor

18.1% (44)

Columbia County's Poor-condition bridges carry 61,086 vehicle crossings a day

That is 11.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 17.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,454 crossings a day against 2,828 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 238 of 243 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

70.8% of Columbia County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

172 of the 243 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 17.7% 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 20% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE I90 over COUNTY ROAD 32, built 1958, carries 12,236 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 44-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 61,086 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1900s

1
1910s

2
1920s

10
1930s

45
1940s

24
1950s

57
1960s

27
1970s

4
1980s

15
1990s

17
2000s

12
2010s

21
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 57 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1963, 9 years older than the New York average of 1972.

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Columbia County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 18.1% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1963 against a peer-group mean of 1963 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 Columbia County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
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
Columbia County (this page)	243	17.7%	64.2%	18.1%	1963
Kings County	242	24.8%	64%	11.2%	1953
Oswego County	233	28.3%	61.4%	10.3%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (243 bridges here).

Talladega County, AL · 243 bridges
Newton County, MS · 243 bridges
Pettis County, MO · 243 bridges
Gloucester County, NJ · 243 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1963 here).

Worcester County, MA · avg 1963 · 1,014 bridges
Honolulu County, HI · avg 1963 · 682 bridges
Chester County, PA · avg 1963 · 680 bridges
Essex County, NJ · avg 1963 · 505 bridges

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

All 243 Good 43 Fair 156 Poor 44

Fair-condition bridges (156)

Sort:

Columbia County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Columbia County's Poor-condition bridges carry 61,086 vehicle crossings a day

70.8% of Columbia County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

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

How Columbia 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 (156)

RTE I90

PERCY HILL ROAD

WATER STREET

RTE I90

RTE 203

WIRE ROAD

RTE 66

RTE 987G

RTE 987G

RTE I90

TAGHKANIC ROAD

CR 13

RTE I90

RTE 9H

RTE 22

WILTSIE BRIDGE RD

COUNTY ROAD 21

RTE 987G

COUNTY ROAD 8A

RTE 295

COUNTY ROAD 28

COUNTY ROAD 11

RTE 987G

RTE 9H

RTE 987G

RTE 987G

RTE 987G

ALBANY TURNPIKE

WHITE MILLS ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 7A

COUNTY ROAD 11

RTE 987G

COUNTY ROAD 50

SUMMIT STREET

RTE 987G

COUNTY ROAD 9

COUNTY ROAD 27

COPAKE LAKE RD

RTE 22

RTE 203

WILTSIE BRIDGE RD

RTE 9

HARTIGAN ROAD

MILL ROAD

RTE 987G

RTE 23

COUNTY ROAD 16

CANAAN ROAD

FRISBEE STREET

CARPENTER ROAD

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