County profile · official public datasets

Madison County, NY

175 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.7% rated Good, 53.7% Fair, 8.6% Poor.

175
Public bridges: 37.7%
Good condition: 8.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 42%
lowest Poor share in state: 8.6%
Poor-condition share: 175
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Madison County ranks #26 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.6%). Madison County, New York contains 175 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.7% are rated “Good,” 53.7% “Fair,” and 8.6% “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

175

Public highway bridges in Madison County

Good condition

37.7%

66 of 175 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53.7%

94 of 175 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.6%

15 of 175 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#26 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 175 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

37.7% (66)

Fair

53.7% (94)

Poor

8.6% (15)

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 94,971 vehicle crossings a day

That is 21% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,331 crossings a day against 1,949 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 175 of 175 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

56% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

98 of the 175 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 37.7% 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 33% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE I90 over N LAKE ST, built 1953, carries 31,294 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 94,971 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

8
1910s

1
1920s

10
1930s

11
1940s

10
1950s

39
1960s

16
1970s

7
1980s

16
1990s

19
2000s

16
2010s

13
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 39 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the New York average (1972).

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Madison County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 5 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Madison County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Ontario County	178	40.4%	51.7%	7.9%	1973
Madison County (this page)	175	37.7%	53.7%	8.6%	1968
Schoharie County	174	37.4%	54.6%	8%	1972
Lewis County	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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (175 bridges here).

Smith County, MS · 175 bridges
Warren County, MS · 175 bridges
Hamilton County, NE · 175 bridges
San Miguel County, NM · 175 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges

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

All 175 Good 66 Fair 94 Poor 15

Fair-condition bridges (94)

Sort:

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 94,971 vehicle crossings a day

56% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 33% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Madison 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 (94)

CR88 WILLEY ROAD

BOLIVAR ROAD

WHITE BRIDGE ROAD

CR 76

KIMBERLEE ROAD

RTE 13

NORTH LAKE ST

DIAMOND ST

BEEBE BRIDGE RD

CR69 MILL ROAD

BUCK ST

MILL STREET

BENNETT ROAD

HERRICK FARM ROAD

RTE 20

RTE 80

CREEK ROAD

RTE 46

DYKE ROAD

MECHANIC STREET

LEBANON ROAD

CARPENTER ROAD

CHAPPEL RD

MADISON STREET

CR89 POOLVILLE RD

CR21 PERRYVILLE RO

HARSH ROAD

ARMSTRONG RD

CLOCKVILLE RD

RIPPLETON CROSS RD

RTE 365A

BOATYARD ROAD

CREEK ROAD

CR105 EATON ROAD

CR 41

CREEK ROAD

TREATMENT PLANT RD

PETERBORO RD

CAREY ROAD

CR 77

RTE 20

RTE 13

LEBANON HILL ROAD

WATER ST

Related