County profile · official public datasets

Lewis County, NY

167 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.5% rated Good, 50.3% Fair, 16.2% Poor.

167
Public bridges: 33.5%
Good condition: 16.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

55th
of 62 on Poor share: 16.2%
Poor-condition share: 167
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Lewis County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lewis County ranks #55 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 16.2%). Lewis County, New York contains 167 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.5% are rated “Good,” 50.3% “Fair,” and 16.2% “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

167

Public highway bridges in Lewis County

Good condition

33.5%

56 of 167 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.3%

84 of 167 rated 5-6

Poor condition

16.2%

27 of 167 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#55 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 167 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33.5% (56)

Fair

50.3% (84)

Poor

16.2% (27)

Lewis County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,333 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 321 crossings a day against 856 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 164 of 167 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.9% of Lewis County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

85 of the 167 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 33.5% 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 27.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE 12 over MILL CREEK, built 1927, carries 2,290 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 27-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,333 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

3
1910s

2
1920s

9
1930s

9
1940s

7
1950s

14
1960s

28
1970s

21
1980s

33
1990s

14
2000s

13
2010s

7
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 33 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the New York average (1972).

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Lewis County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 16.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 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 Lewis County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Madison County	175	37.7%	53.7%	8.6%	1968
Schoharie County	174	37.4%	54.6%	8%	1972
Lewis County (this page)	167	33.5%	50.3%	16.2%	1972
Livingston County	165	38.8%	56.4%	4.8%	1979
Richmond County	164	30.5%	67.7%	1.8%	1970
Genesee County	162	28.4%	58%	13.6%	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 Lewis 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 Lewis County, both outside New York so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (167 bridges here).

Cherokee County, AL · 167 bridges
Garfield County, CO · 167 bridges
Mitchell County, IA · 167 bridges
Ness County, KS · 167 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 167 Good 56 Fair 84 Poor 27

Fair-condition bridges (84)

Sort:

Lewis County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lewis County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,333 vehicle crossings a day

50.9% of Lewis County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 27.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lewis 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 (84)

MEYER ROAD

SCHWENK ROAD

JUNCTION ROAD

CEMETERY ROAD

FISH CREEK ROAD

SWEENEY ROAD

MEISS ROAD

RIDGE ROAD

MCALPINE STREET

COUNTY ROAD 43

BALD MOUNTAIN RD

RTE 12

MARSHEY ROAD

MICHIGAN MILLS RD

MC CUE ROAD

LAURA STREET

BELFORT ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 29

BRIDGE STREET

LONG POND ROAD

KOTARY ROAD

OSCEOLA RD

RIVER ROAD

DAVIS BRIDGE ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 29

BROCK ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 50

SCHIBLEY ROAD

LONG POND ROAD

CANNAN ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 43

VAN AMBER ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 10

STEAM MILL ROAD

RTE 177

CEMETERY ROAD

County Route 27

RTE 12

RTE 26

County Route 27

BICKFORD ROAD

LOWDALE ROAD

EAST STATE STREET

RTE 3

RTE 12

RTE 12D

OLD STATE ROAD

RTE 12D

RTE 812

RTE 12

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