County profile · official public datasets

Ulster County, NY

392 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 21.7% rated Good, 57.4% Fair, 20.9% Poor.

392
Public bridges: 21.7%
Good condition: 20.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

61st
of 62 on Poor share: 20.9%
Poor-condition share: 392
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Ulster County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ulster County ranks #61 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 20.9%). Ulster County, New York contains 392 public highway bridges. Roughly 21.7% are rated “Good,” 57.4% “Fair,” and 20.9% “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

392

Public highway bridges in Ulster County

Good condition

21.7%

85 of 392 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57.4%

225 of 392 rated 5-6

Poor condition

20.9%

82 of 392 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#61 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 392 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

21.7% (85)

Fair

57.4% (225)

Poor

20.9% (82)

Ulster County's Poor-condition bridges carry 204,453 vehicle crossings a day

That is 12.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 20.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,588 crossings a day against 4,217 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 383 of 392 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49.7% of Ulster County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

195 of the 392 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 21.7% 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 17.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE I87 over RTE 213 WALLKILL RIVER, built 1955, carries 35,755 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 82-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 204,453 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

4
1900s

1
1910s

10
1920s

9
1930s

38
1940s

13
1950s

57
1960s

52
1970s

17
1980s

32
1990s

70
2000s

43
2010s

38
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 70 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the New York average (1972).

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Ulster County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 20.9% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 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 Ulster County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Delaware County	450	38.4%	54.7%	6.9%	1977
Allegany County	402	39.1%	54.7%	6.2%	1981
Ulster County (this page)	392	21.7%	57.4%	20.9%	1974
Suffolk County	369	27.1%	71.5%	1.4%	1968
Sullivan County	365	39.2%	53.2%	7.7%	1975
Albany County	343	29.7%	65%	5.2%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (392 bridges here).

DeKalb County, GA · 392 bridges
Minnehaha County, SD · 393 bridges
Arapahoe County, CO · 391 bridges
Lee County, FL · 391 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Pierce County, WA · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Lincoln County, OK · avg 1974 · 450 bridges

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

All 392 Good 85 Fair 225 Poor 82

Good-condition bridges (85)

Sort:

Ulster County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ulster County's Poor-condition bridges carry 204,453 vehicle crossings a day

49.7% of Ulster County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 17.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ulster 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 (85)

Pantherkill Road

PECK HOLLOW ROAD

HERDMAN ROAD

MABEN HOLLOW ROAD

CHESTNUT HILL ROAD

MCDANIEL ROAD

LOWER BIRCH CREEK

RESERVOIR RD

PARK ACCESS ROAD

RTE 214

RTE 52

COUNTY ROAD 6

DENNING ROAD

UPPER SAHLER MILL

RTE 209

RTE 9

RTE 44

County Road 12

NORTH CHODIKEE LAK

MILL BROOK ROAD

BLACK CREEK ROAD

BRADKIN ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 47

County Road 15

RTE I87

RTE 213

MINK HOLLOW ROAD

RTE I87

COUNTY ROAD 7A

HINKLEY ROAD

CR 47

RTE 212

RTE 28A

BALACE ROAD

RTE 214

CR 42

COUNTY ROAD 31

RTE 28

COUNTY ROAD 42

CR 31

RIVER ROAD

OREGON TRAIL

THRUWAY KINGSTON I

MCKINLEY HOLLOW RO

RTE 28

RTE 209

RTE 209

RTE 44

RTE 209

County Road 46

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