County profile · official public datasets

Cortland County, NY

189 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.3% rated Good, 49.7% Fair, 16.9% Poor.

189
Public bridges: 33.3%
Good condition: 16.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

59th
of 62 on Poor share: 16.9%
Poor-condition share: 189
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Cortland County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cortland County ranks #59 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 16.9%). Cortland County, New York contains 189 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.3% are rated “Good,” 49.7% “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

189

Public highway bridges in Cortland County

Good condition

33.3%

63 of 189 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.7%

94 of 189 rated 5-6

Poor condition

16.9%

32 of 189 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#59 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 189 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33.3% (63)

Fair

49.7% (94)

Poor

16.9% (32)

Cortland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 62,497 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 1,953 crossings a day against 2,226 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 188 of 189 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.5% of Cortland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

103 of the 189 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 33.3% 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 16.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE 930 over RTE 11 NYS Routes 11&41, built 1966, carries 10,063 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 32-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 62,497 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

3
1910s

1
1920s

4
1930s

19
1940s

9
1950s

9
1960s

44
1970s

19
1980s

16
1990s

21
2000s

24
2010s

15
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 44 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the New York average (1972).

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Cortland 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 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1972 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 Cortland County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Clinton County	201	39.3%	48.3%	12.4%	1979
Tompkins County	192	38.5%	46.9%	14.6%	1973
Franklin County	189	47.6%	40.7%	11.6%	1975
Washington County	189	36%	50.3%	13.8%	1960
Cortland County (this page)	189	33.3%	49.7%	16.9%	1974
Ontario County	178	40.4%	51.7%	7.9%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (189 bridges here).

Butler County, AL · 189 bridges
Chilton County, AL · 189 bridges
Jasper County, IN · 189 bridges
Chase County, KS · 189 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Pierce County, WA · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Lincoln County, OK · avg 1974 · 450 bridges

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

All 189 Good 63 Fair 94 Poor 32

Fair-condition bridges (94)

Sort:

Cortland County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cortland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 62,497 vehicle crossings a day

54.5% of Cortland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 16.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cortland 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 (94)

TONE RD

FRANCIS ROAD

RTE 26

McGRAW MARATHON RD

COUNTY ROAD 166

RTE 26

MCGRAW MARATHON RD

GRIGGS GULF ROAD

COLD BROOK ROAD

HOMER AVE

W MEETNG HOUSE RD

CLARKS CORNERS RD

CRAINS MILL ROAD

RTE I81

RTE I81

RTE 200

RTE 281

ALBANY STREET

RTE 26

RTE I81

RTE I81

ALBANY STREET

RTE 392

RTE I81

EAST RIVER ROAD

RTE 11

RTE I81

I 81 NB ON RAMP

RTE 215

SAULSBURY ROAD

TEXAS VALLEY ROAD

GLEN HAVEN ROAD

LITTLE YORK ROAD

STILLWELL ROAD

RAMP TO HOMER

TAYLOR VALLEY RD

RTE 281

SONG LAKE XING RD

RTE I81

RTE I81

RTE I81

TELEPHONE RD EXT.

RTE 215

DUTCH HILL ROAD

HOXIE GORGE ROAD

ANGEL ROAD

MILL STREET

RTE 222

MADISON ST and HOM

MUCKEY ROAD

Related