County profile · official public datasets

Rensselaer County, NY

269 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 27.9% rated Good, 57.2% Fair, 14.9% Poor.

269
Public bridges: 27.9%
Good condition: 14.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

52nd
of 62 on Poor share: 14.9%
Poor-condition share: 269
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Rensselaer County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Rensselaer County ranks #52 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 14.9%). Rensselaer County, New York contains 269 public highway bridges. Roughly 27.9% are rated “Good,” 57.2% “Fair,” and 14.9% “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

269

Public highway bridges in Rensselaer County

Good condition

27.9%

75 of 269 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57.2%

154 of 269 rated 5-6

Poor condition

14.9%

40 of 269 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#52 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 269 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

27.9% (75)

Fair

57.2% (154)

Poor

14.9% (40)

Rensselaer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 56,814 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,420 crossings a day against 4,832 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 267 of 269 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.6% of Rensselaer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

147 of the 269 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 27.9% 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 21.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE I90 over RTE 203, built 1957, carries 12,236 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 40-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 56,814 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

5
1900s

3
1910s

5
1920s

10
1930s

32
1940s

19
1950s

27
1960s

14
1970s

35
1980s

25
1990s

29
2000s

29
2010s

27
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 13% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1971) matches the New York average (1972).

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Rensselaer County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 14.9% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1975 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 Rensselaer County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Rensselaer County (this page)	269	27.9%	57.2%	14.9%	1971
Niagara County	268	41.8%	50.7%	7.5%	1974
Otsego County	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 Rensselaer 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 Rensselaer County, both outside New York so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (269 bridges here).

Grundy County, IL · 269 bridges
Bartholomew County, IN · 269 bridges
Harrison County, TX · 269 bridges
Manitowoc County, WI · 269 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges

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

All 269 Good 75 Fair 154 Poor 40

Good-condition bridges (75)

Sort:

Rensselaer County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Rensselaer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 56,814 vehicle crossings a day

54.6% of Rensselaer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 21.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Rensselaer 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

Good-condition bridges (75)

SIMONS ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 26

HERRICK STREET

SOUTH SCHODACK RD

RTE 43

RTE I90

Tempel Lane Extens

Sixth avenue to Ho

SPRING AVENUE

RTE 20

CHURCH STREET

RTE 20

BURDEN LAKE ROAD

RTE 2

RTE 351

RTE 912F

COUNTY ROAD 40

COUNTY ROAD 114

OLD POST ROAD

RTE 22

County Road 26

PLANK ROAD

RTE I90

STOP 13 ROAD

RTE 2

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