County profile · official public datasets

Franklin County, NY

189 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.6% rated Good, 40.7% Fair, 11.6% Poor.

189
Public bridges: 47.6%
Good condition: 11.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

45th
of 62 on Poor share: 11.6%
Poor-condition share: 189
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Franklin County ranks #45 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.6%). Franklin County, New York contains 189 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.6% are rated “Good,” 40.7% “Fair,” and 11.6% “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

189

Public highway bridges in Franklin County

Good condition

47.6%

90 of 189 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40.7%

77 of 189 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.6%

22 of 189 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#45 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

47.6% (90)

Fair

40.7% (77)

Poor

11.6% (22)

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 29,467 vehicle crossings a day

That is 13.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,339 crossings a day against 1,137 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 185 of 189 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.3% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

95 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 47.6% 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 43.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE 37 over ST REGIS RIVER, built 1990, carries 12,703 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 22-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 29,467 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

8
1930s

20
1940s

14
1950s

15
1960s

26
1970s

14
1980s

15
1990s

30
2000s

18
2010s

22
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 30 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the New York average (1972).

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Franklin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.6% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 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 Franklin 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
Cortland County	189	33.3%	49.7%	16.9%	1974
Washington County	189	36%	50.3%	13.8%	1960
Franklin County (this page)	189	47.6%	40.7%	11.6%	1975
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 Franklin 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 Franklin 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 (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 189 Good 90 Fair 77 Poor 22

Poor-condition bridges (22)

Sort:

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 29,467 vehicle crossings a day

50.3% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 43.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Franklin 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

Poor-condition bridges (22)

KELLY ROAD

SLATER ROAD

MERRILL ROAD

ELMER ROAD

CR 8

FLETCHER FARM RD

RTE 11

SANDY KNOLL ROAD

MAHONEY ROAD

WOODRUFF STREET

BUCKWHEAT ROAD

CUSHMAN ROAD

WOULF AVE

MCCABE ROAD

RTE 11

RTE 458

BACON RD

SPENCER ROAD

REYNOLDSTON ROAD

RTE 11

RTE 37

VINCENT ROAD

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