County profile · official public datasets

Orange County, NY

472 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25.4% rated Good, 59.3% Fair, 15.3% Poor.

472
Public bridges: 25.4%
Good condition: 15.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

53rd
of 62 on Poor share: 15.3%
Poor-condition share: 472
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Orange County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Orange County ranks #53 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.3%). Orange County, New York contains 472 public highway bridges. Roughly 25.4% are rated “Good,” 59.3% “Fair,” and 15.3% “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

472

Public highway bridges in Orange County

Good condition

25.4%

120 of 472 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.3%

280 of 472 rated 5-6

Poor condition

15.3%

72 of 472 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#53 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 472 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

25.4% (120)

Fair

59.3% (280)

Poor

15.3% (72)

Orange County's Poor-condition bridges carry 543,301 vehicle crossings a day

That is 11.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 7,761 crossings a day against 10,118 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 459 of 472 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

57.8% of Orange County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

273 of the 472 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 25.4% 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 8.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE I87 over RTE 32, built 1954, carries 43,981 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 72-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 543,301 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1900s

2
1910s

3
1920s

13
1930s

40
1940s

23
1950s

68
1960s

109
1970s

29
1980s

25
1990s

47
2000s

51
2010s

45
2020s

15

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 109 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the New York average (1972).

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Orange County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.3% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1976 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 Orange County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Oneida County	496	46.2%	42.3%	11.5%	1972
Cattaraugus County	484	55.4%	38.4%	6.2%	1982
Onondaga County	472	29%	61%	10%	1974
Orange County (this page)	472	25.4%	59.3%	15.3%	1974
Broome County	468	39.3%	58.3%	2.4%	1975
Delaware County	450	38.4%	54.7%	6.9%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (472 bridges here).

Pierce County, WA · 472 bridges
Multnomah County, OR · 473 bridges
Jasper County, MO · 471 bridges
Pecos County, TX · 470 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Lincoln County, OK · avg 1974 · 450 bridges

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

All 472 Good 120 Fair 280 Poor 72

All bridges (472)

Sort:

Orange County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Orange County's Poor-condition bridges carry 543,301 vehicle crossings a day

57.8% of Orange County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 8.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Orange 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 (472)

RTE 94

RTE I84

RTE 300

FELTER HILL ROAD

GLENWOOD ROAD

RTE I84

PORT ORANGE ROAD

WATERSTONE ROAD

RTE I87

CLOVE ROAD

RTE I87

STERLING LAKE ROAD

SMITH CLOVE ROAD

RTE 6

RTE 17

RTE 6

RTE 32

RTE I84

ARDEN VALLEY RD

MILLSBURG ROAD

POWDER MILL ROAD

RTE 17M

RTE 17

RTE 52

BALLARD ROAD

RTE 747

RTE 6

Harts Lane

LAKE STREET

HIGHLAND AVENUE

FREELAND STREET

GALLEY HILL ROAD

Ramp L-NS

PATTON RD

SHODDY HOLLOW RD

COLLABAR ROAD

HUBSHOP ROAD

FARMINGDALE ROAD

RYERSON ROAD

RTE 6

RTE I84

RTE 94

HAMBLETONIAN AVENU

BALMVILLE RD

RTE I87

RTE I87

County Road 20

FLETCHER DRIVE NO

87IX EXIT 16 RAMP

TREATMENT PLANT RD

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