County profile · official public datasets

Otsego County, NY

266 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.2% rated Good, 55.3% Fair, 7.5% Poor.

266
Public bridges: 37.2%
Good condition: 7.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 31%
lowest Poor share in state: 7.5%
Poor-condition share: 266
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Otsego County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Otsego County ranks #19 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.5%). Otsego County, New York contains 266 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.2% are rated “Good,” 55.3% “Fair,” and 7.5% “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

266

Public highway bridges in Otsego County

Good condition

37.2%

99 of 266 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.3%

147 of 266 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.5%

20 of 266 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#19 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 266 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

37.2% (99)

Fair

55.3% (147)

Poor

7.5% (20)

Otsego County's Poor-condition bridges carry 20,194 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,010 crossings a day against 2,751 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 265 of 266 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

47% of Otsego County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

125 of the 266 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 37.2% 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 30.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE 28 over OAKS CREEK, built 1931, carries 6,226 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 20-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 20,194 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

4
1900s

10
1910s

5
1920s

4
1930s

46
1940s

16
1950s

7
1960s

11
1970s

65
1980s

18
1990s

35
2000s

26
2010s

17
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 65 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1969) matches the New York average (1972).

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Otsego County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Otsego County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Rensselaer County	269	27.9%	57.2%	14.9%	1971
Niagara County	268	41.8%	50.7%	7.5%	1974
Otsego County (this page)	266	37.2%	55.3%	7.5%	1969
Chemung County	256	38.7%	54.7%	6.6%	1977
Chenango County	256	39.1%	53.1%	7.8%	1975
Essex County	256	48.4%	44.5%	7%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (266 bridges here).

Lauderdale County, AL · 266 bridges
Wayne County, IL · 266 bridges
Bremer County, IA · 266 bridges
Cerro Gordo County, IA · 266 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges

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

All 266 Good 99 Fair 147 Poor 20

Poor-condition bridges (20)

Sort:

Otsego County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Otsego County's Poor-condition bridges carry 20,194 vehicle crossings a day

47% of Otsego County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 30.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Otsego 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

Poor-condition bridges (20)

BROOK STREET

TANNERY STREET

ELM ST EXTENSION

CR4

COUNTY ROAD 59

LOFT ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 18

COUNTY ROAD 6

DICK TURNBULL RD

MILL ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 7

RTE 7

COUNTY ROAD 11

RTE 7

RTE 7

COUNTY ROAD 40

COUNTY ROAD 40

FACTORY HILL ROAD

RTE 28

CR 56

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