County profile · official public datasets

Oswego County, NY

233 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28.3% rated Good, 61.4% Fair, 10.3% Poor.

233
Public bridges: 28.3%
Good condition: 10.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

37th
of 62 on Poor share: 10.3%
Poor-condition share: 233
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Oswego County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Oswego County ranks #37 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.3%). Oswego County, New York contains 233 public highway bridges. Roughly 28.3% are rated “Good,” 61.4% “Fair,” and 10.3% “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

233

Public highway bridges in Oswego County

Good condition

28.3%

66 of 233 rated 7-9

Fair condition

61.4%

143 of 233 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.3%

24 of 233 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#37 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 233 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

28.3% (66)

Fair

61.4% (143)

Poor

10.3% (24)

Oswego County's Poor-condition bridges carry 37,655 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,569 crossings a day against 2,207 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 233 of 233 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49.8% of Oswego County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

116 of the 233 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 28.3% 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 21.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE I81 over HALSEY ROAD, built 1961, carries 8,174 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 24-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 37,655 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

5
1910s

3
1920s

3
1930s

17
1940s

13
1950s

20
1960s

45
1970s

14
1980s

24
1990s

28
2000s

28
2010s

24
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 45 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the New York average (1972).

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Oswego County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.3% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Oswego County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Columbia County	243	17.7%	64.2%	18.1%	1963
Kings County	242	24.8%	64%	11.2%	1953
Oswego County (this page)	233	28.3%	61.4%	10.3%	1975
Saratoga County	228	46.9%	45.6%	7.5%	1974
Greene County	227	36.6%	53.7%	9.7%	1978
Tioga County	220	38.6%	52.3%	9.1%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (233 bridges here).

Pickens County, AL · 233 bridges
Washington County, IL · 233 bridges
Lawrence County, MO · 233 bridges
Mayes County, OK · 233 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 233 Good 66 Fair 143 Poor 24

All bridges (233)

Sort:

Oswego County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Oswego County's Poor-condition bridges carry 37,655 vehicle crossings a day

49.8% of Oswego County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 21.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Oswego 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 (233)

RTE I81

OLD STATE RTE 48

PRIOR ROAD

COUNTY RD 38

ACADEMY STREET

ROADWAY

PHOENIX ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 26

CANNING FACTRY RD

RTE I81

CAUGHDENOY ROAD

FRANK LACY ROAD

FRANK LACY ROAD

RTE 3

RTE 104B

PARISH WOODS ROAD

COUNTY LINE ROAD

JAMES ROAD

MINCLER ROAD

HURLBUT ROAD

SUCKERVILLE ROAD

PANTHER LAKE ROAD

NORTH STREET RD

PEKIN ROAD

CLARK ROAD

MUD SETTLEMENT RD

CALIFORNIA ROAD

ABES DRIVE

RTE 49

COUNTY ROAD 32

RTE 13

RTE 69A

BANKRUPT ROAD

CR 16

WHITE ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 57

NORTH ROAD

CR54

COUNTY ROAD 32

MUD SETTLEMENT RD

MILLER ROAD

RICHLAND ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 20

RTE 11

CR 38

RTE I81

RTE 104B

RTE 81

RTE 81

MITCHELL STREET

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