County profile · official public datasets

Putnam County, NY

104 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 15.4% rated Good, 73.1% Fair, 11.5% Poor.

104
Public bridges: 15.4%
Good condition: 11.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Putnam County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

44th
of 62 on Poor share: 11.5%
Poor-condition share: 104
public highway bridges: 1964
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.

Putnam County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Putnam County ranks #44 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.5%). Putnam County, New York contains 104 public highway bridges. Roughly 15.4% are rated “Good,” 73.1% “Fair,” and 11.5% “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

104

Public highway bridges in Putnam County

Good condition

15.4%

16 of 104 rated 7-9

Fair condition

73.1%

76 of 104 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.5%

12 of 104 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#44 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 104 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

15.4% (16)

Fair

73.1% (76)

Poor

11.5% (12)

Putnam County's Poor-condition bridges carry 106,905 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 8,909 crossings a day against 9,221 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 103 of 104 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

73.1% of Putnam County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

76 of the 104 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 15.4% 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 28.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE I84 over MNRR BE LINE, built 1968, carries 30,039 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 106,905 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

4
1910s

1
1920s

8
1930s

15
1940s

2
1950s

6
1960s

38
1970s

4
1980s

5
1990s

8
2000s

5
2010s

4
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 38 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 36.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1964, 8 years older than the New York average of 1972.

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Putnam County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1964 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Putnam County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Schenectady County	115	32.2%	60%	7.8%	1977
Putnam County (this page)	104	15.4%	73.1%	11.5%	1964
Schuyler County	100	40%	55%	5%	1983
Fulton County	98	34.7%	50%	15.3%	1958
Wayne County	97	48.5%	41.2%	10.3%	1974
Hamilton County	88	34.1%	51.1%	14.8%	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 Putnam 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 Putnam County, both outside New York so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (104 bridges here).

Nassau County, FL · 104 bridges
Brooks County, GA · 104 bridges
Grady County, GA · 104 bridges
Bonner County, ID · 104 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1964 here).

Bergen County, NJ · avg 1964 · 577 bridges
Morris County, NJ · avg 1964 · 508 bridges
Baltimore city County, MD · avg 1964 · 374 bridges
Ross County, OH · avg 1964 · 356 bridges

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

All 104 Good 16 Fair 76 Poor 12

All bridges (104)

Sort:

Putnam County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Putnam County's Poor-condition bridges carry 106,905 vehicle crossings a day

73.1% of Putnam County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 28.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Putnam 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 (104)

LAKE DRIVE

W SHORE DR

RESERVOIR ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 56

LOWER MINE ROAD

CORNWALL HILL ROAD

RTE 22

CIMARRON ROAD

RTE 301

RTE 9D

RTE I84

RTE I84

RTE 301

RTE 9D

OLD ALBANY POST RO

DREWVLLE RD

E MOUNTAIN RD S

RTE 987G

STILLWATER ROAD

RTE 987G

HAVLND HOLLOW RD

RTE I84

CHURCH ROAD CR 22

RTE 9D

BOWEN ROAD

RTE 301

RTE 312

BRYANT POND ROAD

EAST BRANCH ROAD

FARMER MILLS ROAD

RTE I84

BRYANT POND ROAD

RTE I84

RTE 6

RTE I84

RTE 6

RTE I84

RTE I84

RTE I84

RTE 6

RTE I684

RAMP G OF I84

RTE I684

RTE I684

RTE I84

LUDINGTON CT

RTE I84

RTE I684

MILLTOWN ROAD

RTE 301

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