County profile · official public datasets

Sullivan County, NY

365 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.2% rated Good, 53.2% Fair, 7.7% Poor.

365
Public bridges: 39.2%
Good condition: 7.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 32%
lowest Poor share in state: 7.7%
Poor-condition share: 365
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.

Sullivan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sullivan County ranks #20 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.7%). Sullivan County, New York contains 365 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.2% are rated “Good,” 53.2% “Fair,” and 7.7% “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

365

Public highway bridges in Sullivan County

Good condition

39.2%

143 of 365 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53.2%

194 of 365 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.7%

28 of 365 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#20 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 365 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

39.2% (143)

Fair

53.2% (194)

Poor

7.7% (28)

Sullivan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 30,725 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,138 crossings a day against 1,677 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 352 of 365 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

51% of Sullivan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

186 of the 365 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 39.2% 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 32% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE 42 over NEVERSINK RIVER, built 1983, carries 9,826 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 28-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 30,725 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

5
1900s

4
1910s

2
1920s

6
1930s

37
1940s

12
1950s

61
1960s

51
1970s

15
1980s

21
1990s

47
2000s

50
2010s

49
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 61 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the New York average (1972).

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Sullivan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.7% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1973 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 Sullivan County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Allegany County	402	39.1%	54.7%	6.2%	1981
Ulster County	392	21.7%	57.4%	20.9%	1974
Suffolk County	369	27.1%	71.5%	1.4%	1968
Sullivan County (this page)	365	39.2%	53.2%	7.7%	1975
Albany County	343	29.7%	65%	5.2%	1975
Dutchess County	332	22.6%	60.8%	16.6%	1967

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (365 bridges here).

Olmsted County, MN · 365 bridges
Lorain County, OH · 366 bridges
Osage County, OK · 366 bridges
Allen County, OH · 367 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 365 Good 143 Fair 194 Poor 28

Poor-condition bridges (28)

Sort:

Sullivan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sullivan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 30,725 vehicle crossings a day

51% of Sullivan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 32% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sullivan 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 (28)

SKINNERS FALLS NY

MOUNT HOPE ROAD

BENTON HOLLOW RD

CR 49

BENTON HOLLOW RD

COUNTY ROAD 124

DAVIS LANE

Bws ROAD

RIVER ROAD

FRIENDS NAT CP RD

RTE 42

Bridge Street

COUNTY ROAD 75

FLUGERTOWN ROAD

RTE 97

RTE 55

RTE 97

COUNTY ROAD 149

RTE 52

STARLIGHT ROAD

RTE 17

JACK MENGES ROAD

MOUNTAINDALE ROAD

KRUM ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 55

RTE 209

CREAMERY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 54

Related