County profile · official public datasets

Delaware County, NY

450 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.4% rated Good, 54.7% Fair, 6.9% Poor.

450
Public bridges: 38.4%
Good condition: 6.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Delaware 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 23%
lowest Poor share in state: 6.9%
Poor-condition share: 450
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.

Delaware County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Delaware County ranks #14 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.9%). Delaware County, New York contains 450 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.4% are rated “Good,” 54.7% “Fair,” and 6.9% “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

450

Public highway bridges in Delaware County

Good condition

38.4%

173 of 450 rated 7-9

Fair condition

54.7%

246 of 450 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.9%

31 of 450 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#14 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 450 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.4% (173)

Fair

54.7% (246)

Poor

6.9% (31)

Delaware County's Poor-condition bridges carry 28,591 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 922 crossings a day against 832 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 443 of 450 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.9% of Delaware County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

220 of the 450 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 38.4% 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 15.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MAIN STREET over SUSQUEHANNA RIVER, built 1936, carries 4,373 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 31-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 28,591 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

3
1900s

3
1920s

3
1930s

25
1940s

19
1950s

43
1960s

93
1970s

56
1980s

33
1990s

80
2000s

54
2010s

34
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 93 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1977, 5 years newer than the New York average of 1972.

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Delaware County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.9% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1975 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 Delaware County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Oneida County	496	46.2%	42.3%	11.5%	1972
Cattaraugus County	484	55.4%	38.4%	6.2%	1982
Onondaga County	472	29%	61%	10%	1974
Orange County	472	25.4%	59.3%	15.3%	1974
Broome County	468	39.3%	58.3%	2.4%	1975
Delaware County (this page)	450	38.4%	54.7%	6.9%	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 Delaware 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 Delaware County, both outside New York so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (450 bridges here).

Tehama County, CA · 450 bridges
Berkshire County, MA · 450 bridges
Lincoln County, OK · 450 bridges
Washington County, AR · 449 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 450 Good 173 Fair 246 Poor 31

Fair-condition bridges (246)

Sort:

Delaware County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Delaware County's Poor-condition bridges carry 28,591 vehicle crossings a day

48.9% of Delaware County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 15.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Delaware 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 (246)

S MONTGMY HLLW RD

MILLS ROAD

HARPER ROAD

RTE 17

RTE 17

RTE 30

KELSO ROAD

BROOK ROAD

BRIDGE STREET

FAIR STREET

RTE 28

DOE BROOK ROAD

COOKS BROOK ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 10

KITTLE ROAD

RTE 28

RTE 206

RTE 28

RTE 97

RTE 17

BEECH HILL ROAD

OLD RT 28

RTE 206

COUNTY ROAD 28

RTE 10

RTE 17

RTE 28

CADOSIA ROAD

MILL ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 35

RTE 10

VAN AKIN ROAD

NARROW NOTCH ROAD

ARBOR HILL ROAD

HANCOCK-STARLIGHT

COULTER BROOK RD

COUNTY ROAD 26

PARKER HOLLOW RD

RTE 17

RTE 30

BRUCE PORN ROAD

BURNWOOD ROAD

WALTON-FRANKLN RD

RTE 28

BOB HALL ROAD

BOVINA ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 11

EAST HUBBLE HILL R

RTE 10

RTE 17

Related