Total bridges
248
Public highway bridges in Herkimer County
County profile · official public datasets
Herkimer County, NY
248 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 46.8% rated Good, 41.1% Fair, 12.1% Poor.
- 248
- Public bridges
- 46.8%
- Good condition
- 12.1%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Herkimer County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 46th
- of 62 on Poor share
- 12.1%
- Poor-condition share
- 248
- public highway bridges
- 1973
- 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.
Herkimer County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Herkimer County ranks #46 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.1%). Herkimer County, New York contains 248 public highway bridges. Roughly 46.8% are rated “Good,” 41.1% “Fair,” and 12.1% “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.
Good condition
46.8%
116 of 248 rated 7-9
Fair condition
41.1%
102 of 248 rated 5-6
Poor condition
12.1%
30 of 248 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#46 of 62
Among New York counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 248 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 46.8% (116)
Fair 41.1% (102)
Poor 12.1% (30)
Herkimer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 106,323 vehicle crossings a day
That is 14% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,938 crossings a day against 2,164 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 240 of 248 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
47.2% of Herkimer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
117 of the 248 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 46.8% 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 19.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
RTE I90 over NYS Route 28 RTE 28, built 1954, carries 20,495 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 30-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 106,323 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Herkimer County's bridges were built
248 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 7
Built before 1900
7 bridges
- 1900s 2
1900–1909
2 bridges
- 1910s 4
1910–1919
4 bridges
- 1920s 12
1920–1929
12 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
18 bridges
- 1940s 12
1940–1949
12 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
27 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
28 bridges
- 1970s 11
1970–1979
11 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
34 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
38 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
21 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
18 bridges
- 2020s
2020–2029
16 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 38 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the New York average (1972).
How Herkimer County compares with New York's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 New York counties nearest Herkimer County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.1% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1962 is 11 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 61 New York counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chemung County | 256 | 38.7% | 54.7% | 6.6% | 1977 |
| Rockland County | 248 | 26.6% | 63.3% | 10.1% | 1970 |
| Herkimer County (this page) | 248 | 46.8% | 41.1% | 12.1% | 1973 |
| New York County | 247 | 13.4% | 76.9% | 9.7% | 1945 |
| Columbia County | 243 | 17.7% | 64.2% | 18.1% | 1963 |
| Kings County | 242 | 24.8% | 64% | 11.2% | 1953 |
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 Herkimer 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 Herkimer County, both outside New York so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NY (248 bridges here).
- Crawford County, AR · 248 bridges
- Cherokee County, IA · 248 bridges
- Poweshiek County, IA · 248 bridges
- Lowndes County, MS · 248 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1973 here).
- Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
- Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
- Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges
- Sacramento County, CA · avg 1973 · 740 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (116)
RTE 8
GoodOver: COLD BROOK
.9 MI N JCT SH 8 & SH 28, Herkimer, NY
Built 1998 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 2,795
RTE 5S
GoodOver: RTE 51
0.3M N RTS 5S & 51-OVER51, Herkimer, NY
Built 1989 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 11,140
NORTH CREEK RD
GoodOver: UNNAMED STREAM
0.4 MI E JCT CR86 & SH168, Herkimer, NY
Built 2014 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 152
CR1 BIG MOOSE ROAD
GoodOver: N BR MOOSE RIVER
3 MILES EAST OF BIG MOOSE, Herkimer, NY
Built 2010 Load: 58.3 t ADT: 479
GRAY WILMURT ROAD
GoodOver: WEST CANADA CREEK
.1 MILE SOUTH OF WILMURT, Herkimer, NY
Built 1999 Load: 59.0 t ADT: 32
RTE 20
GoodOver: UNADILLA RIVER
1 MI W JCT US 20 & SH 51, Herkimer, NY
Built 2005 Load: 59.9 t ADT: 2,612
SHORTLOTS ROAD
GoodOver: STERLING CREEK
3.4 MI E OF W SCHUYLER, Herkimer, NY
Built 2003 Load: 60.8 t ADT: 323
OLD STATE RD
GoodOver: WEST CANADA CREEK
AT SOUTH END OF POLAND, Herkimer, NY
Built 1997 Load: 61.7 t ADT: 402
CR164
GoodOver: SPRUCE CREEK
1.3 MI N OF DOLGEVILLE, Herkimer, NY
Built 2021 Load: 62.6 t ADT: 461
RTE 28
GoodOver: WHITE CREEK
2.1 MI NE JCT RTS 28 & 29, Herkimer, NY
Built 2014 Load: 65.3 t ADT: 3,612
RTE 169
GoodOver: STONY CREEK
16MI S JCT RTS 29+169, Herkimer, NY
Built 2018 Load: 66.2 t ADT: 1,136
RICHFIELD STREET
GoodOver: STEELE CREEK
AT VILLAGE OF ILION, Herkimer, NY
Built 2020 Load: 71.7 t ADT: 387
SPINNERVILLE-GULF
GoodOver: STEELE CREEK TRIBUTARY
AT TOWN OF GERMAN FLATTS, Herkimer, NY
Built 2018 Load: 84.2 t ADT: 1,795
COUNTY ROAD 85
GoodOver: UNADILLA RIVER
1 MILE SE OF CEDARVILLE, Herkimer, NY
Built 2013 Load: 87.1 t ADT: 97
RUSSIA ROAD
GoodOver: MILL CREEK
.4 MI E OF GRAVESVILLE, Herkimer, NY
Built 1963 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 394
RTE 167
GoodOver: CRUM CREEK
33MI NE JCT RTS 167+5, Herkimer, NY
Built 1973 Load: 90.7 t ADT: 3,480
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.