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.

Total bridges

248

Public highway bridges in Herkimer County

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.

pre-1900

7
1900s

2
1910s

4
1920s

12
1930s

18
1940s

12
1950s

27
1960s

28
1970s

11
1980s

34
1990s

38
2000s

21
2010s

18
2020s

16

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Herkimer County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

All 248 Good 116 Fair 102 Poor 30

All bridges (248)

Sort:

RTE 5

Fair

Over: CSX TRANSPRTATION

1.7 MI E JCT RTS 5 & 51, Herkimer, NY

Built 1949 Load: 59.0 t ADT: 14,044

RTE 28

Fair

Over: UNNAMED CREEK

.4 MI S OF SCHRADER HL RD, Herkimer, NY

Herkimer County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Herkimer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 106,323 vehicle crossings a day

47.2% of Herkimer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 19.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Herkimer 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

All bridges (248)

RTE 5

RTE 28

CR69 GRAY WILMURT

RTE 80

RTE 168

RTE 168

RTE I90

MURPHY ROAD

WEST MAIN STREET

CASLER ROAD

RTE I90

RTE 20

RTE 28

RTE 168

RTE 51

NEWPORT-GRAY RD

RTE 168

NORTH LAKE ROAD

RTE 5

RTE 5

RTE 168

RTE 5S

BULLOCK RD

DOYLE ROAD

ATWOOD LAKE ROAD

GRAVESVILLE RD

CR 247

RTE 51

DOCKEY ROAD

SOUTH ANN STREET

RTE 51

COSBY MANOR RD

RTE 51

RTE 5S

RTE 171

RTE 171

RTE 28

RTE 28

RTE 168

RTE 171

RTE 168

ATWOOD LAKE ROAD

SOUTH SHORE RD

Wiltse Hill Road

PARADISE RD

RTE 5

RTE 8

RTE 168

BINGHAM MILL ROAD

JAMES ROAD

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