County profile · official public datasets

Jefferson County, NY

316 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.5% rated Good, 47.8% Fair, 10.8% Poor.

316
Public bridges: 41.5%
Good condition: 10.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

39th
of 62 on Poor share: 10.8%
Poor-condition share: 316
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jefferson County ranks #39 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.8%). Jefferson County, New York contains 316 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.5% are rated “Good,” 47.8% “Fair,” and 10.8% “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

316

Public highway bridges in Jefferson County

Good condition

41.5%

131 of 316 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.8%

151 of 316 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.8%

34 of 316 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#39 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 316 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

41.5% (131)

Fair

47.8% (151)

Poor

10.8% (34)

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 66,636 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,960 crossings a day against 2,252 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 314 of 316 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.7% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

169 of the 315 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 41.5% 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 14% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE I81 over SOUTH SANDY CREEK, built 1961, carries 9,336 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 34-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 66,636 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

3
1900s

2
1910s

8
1920s

5
1930s

37
1940s

21
1950s

28
1960s

60
1970s

10
1980s

32
1990s

47
2000s

35
2010s

22
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 60 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1971) matches the New York average (1972).

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Jefferson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1964 is 7 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 61 New York counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jefferson County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Albany County	343	29.7%	65%	5.2%	1975
Dutchess County	332	22.6%	60.8%	16.6%	1967
Nassau County	328	28.4%	70.4%	1.2%	1959
Jefferson County (this page)	316	41.5%	47.8%	10.8%	1971
St. Lawrence County	312	59.9%	33.3%	6.7%	1976
Bronx County	311	16.1%	75.6%	8.4%	1945

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (316 bridges here).

Buchanan County, IA · 316 bridges
Cleveland County, OK · 316 bridges
Gwinnett County, GA · 317 bridges
Cherokee County, KS · 317 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges

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

All 316 Good 131 Fair 151 Poor 34

Good-condition bridges (131)

Sort:

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 66,636 vehicle crossings a day

53.7% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 14% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jefferson 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

Good-condition bridges (131)

COUNTY ROAD 194

MILITARY ROAD

SOUTH SKINNER ROAD

OLD STATE ROAD

MCDONALD HILL RD

LEDGES ROAD

MASON ROAD

WEAVER ROAD

SALT POINT ROAD

RTE 11

RTE I81

RTE 3

RTE I81

RTE I81

RTE I81

RTE I81

Torrey Hill Rd

SOUTH HARBOR ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 144

RTE 26

MORRIS TRACT

CR1

ELM RIDGE ROAD

CR 42

COUNTY ROAD 95

DEPAUVILLE ROAD

SMITHVILLE ROAD

SANDY CREEK ROAD

NORTH MAIN STREET

LEMAY ROAD

UNNAMED TRAIL

RTE 12

SANDY HOLLOW ROAD

STONY CREEK ROAD

RTE 177

RTE 11

RTE 178

LIBERTY STREET

ANSTEAD ROAD

RTE 180

COOLIDGE ROAD

RTE 26

RTE 781

RTE 3

CTY RT 6

CANAL STREET

MAIN STREET

ALPINA ROAD

RTE 180

RTE 11

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