County profile · official public datasets

Hamilton County, NY

88 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.1% rated Good, 51.1% Fair, 14.8% Poor.

88
Public bridges: 34.1%
Good condition: 14.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

51st
of 62 on Poor share: 14.8%
Poor-condition share: 88
public highway bridges: 1970
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.

Hamilton County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hamilton County ranks #51 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 14.8%). Hamilton County, New York contains 88 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.1% are rated “Good,” 51.1% “Fair,” and 14.8% “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

Public highway bridges in Hamilton County

Good condition

34.1%

30 of 88 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.1%

45 of 88 rated 5-6

Poor condition

14.8%

13 of 88 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#51 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 88 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.1% (30)

Fair

51.1% (45)

Poor

14.8% (13)

Hamilton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,196 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 14% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 266 crossings a day against 520 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 86 of 88 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.4% of Hamilton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

47 of the 88 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 34.1% 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 36.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE 28 over S INLET RAQUETTE, built 1929, carries 1,166 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,196 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1910s

3
1920s

4
1930s

18
1940s

5
1950s

6
1960s

9
1970s

2
1980s

4
1990s

12
2000s

8
2010s

13
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 18 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1970) matches the New York average (1972).

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Hamilton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 14.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1971 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 Hamilton County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Schenectady County	115	32.2%	60%	7.8%	1977
Putnam County	104	15.4%	73.1%	11.5%	1964
Schuyler County	100	40%	55%	5%	1983
Fulton County	98	34.7%	50%	15.3%	1958
Wayne County	97	48.5%	41.2%	10.3%	1974
Hamilton County (this page)	88	34.1%	51.1%	14.8%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (88 bridges here).

Chicot County, AR · 88 bridges
Prairie County, AR · 88 bridges
Grand County, CO · 88 bridges
Spalding County, GA · 88 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1970 here).

Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges

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

All 88 Good 30 Fair 45 Poor 13

Fair-condition bridges (45)

Sort:

Hamilton County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hamilton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,196 vehicle crossings a day

53.4% of Hamilton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 36.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hamilton 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 (45)

TEACHOUT ROAD

DORR ROAD

RTE 28

CREEK ROAD

CIRCLE ROAD

GILMANTOWN ROAD

SABATTIS ROAD

BIG BROOK ROAD

CONSERV DEPT ROAD

OLD NORTHVILLE RD

BLACK BRIDGE ROAD

RTE 8

OLD ROUTE 8B

ERB ROAD

RTE 30

DEC ROAD

CONSERV DEPT ROAD

CEDAR RIVER ROAD

RTE 10

RTE 28

RTE 30

OLD ROUTE 8B

RTE 30

RTE 30

RTE 30

JESSUP RIVER ROAD

RTE 28

RTE 28

BENSON ROAD

GILMANTOWN ROAD

RTE 30

STORER ROAD

BIG BROOK ROAD

RTE 8

RTE 8

RAQUETTE LAKE RD

OLD PISECO ROAD

SEVENTH LAKE OUTLE

MOUNTAIN HOME RD

FRENCH ROAD

RTE 30

RTE 8

RTE 28

RTE 30

MCCORMICK ROAD

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