County profile · official public datasets

Washington County, NY

189 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36% rated Good, 50.3% Fair, 13.8% Poor.

189
Public bridges: 36%
Good condition: 13.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Washington 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.

49th
of 62 on Poor share: 13.8%
Poor-condition share: 189
public highway bridges: 1960
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.

Washington County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Washington County ranks #49 of 62 New York counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 13.8%). Washington County, New York contains 189 public highway bridges. Roughly 36% are rated “Good,” 50.3% “Fair,” and 13.8% “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

189

Public highway bridges in Washington County

Good condition

36%

68 of 189 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.3%

95 of 189 rated 5-6

Poor condition

13.8%

26 of 189 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#49 of 62

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

Condition distribution

Share of 189 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

36% (68)

Fair

50.3% (95)

Poor

13.8% (26)

Washington County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,983 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 14.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 538 crossings a day against 2,222 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 184 of 189 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

64% of Washington County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

121 of the 189 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 36% 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 33% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RTE 22 over INDIAN RIVER, built 1961, carries 4,620 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 26-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 13,983 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

5
1900s

3
1910s

7
1920s

19
1930s

33
1940s

33
1950s

11
1960s

4
1970s

9
1980s

11
1990s

12
2000s

21
2010s

9
2020s

12

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 33 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1960, 12 years older than the New York average of 1972.

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

The 5 New York counties nearest Washington County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 13.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1960 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 15 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Washington County and the 5 New York counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Clinton County	201	39.3%	48.3%	12.4%	1979
Tompkins County	192	38.5%	46.9%	14.6%	1973
Cortland County	189	33.3%	49.7%	16.9%	1974
Franklin County	189	47.6%	40.7%	11.6%	1975
Washington County (this page)	189	36%	50.3%	13.8%	1960
Ontario County	178	40.4%	51.7%	7.9%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NY (189 bridges here).

Butler County, AL · 189 bridges
Chilton County, AL · 189 bridges
Jasper County, IN · 189 bridges
Chase County, KS · 189 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NY (1960 here).

Windham County, VT · avg 1960 · 337 bridges
Plymouth County, MA · avg 1960 · 287 bridges
Cheshire County, NH · avg 1960 · 192 bridges
Cherokee County, AL · avg 1960 · 167 bridges

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

All 189 Good 68 Fair 95 Poor 26

Fair-condition bridges (95)

Sort:

Washington County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Washington County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,983 vehicle crossings a day

64% of Washington County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 33% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Washington 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

Fair-condition bridges (95)

CR 74

COUNTY ROUTE 67

RTE 149

RTE 149

PATTERSON ROAD

SHELVING ROCK RD

PAWLET RD CR31

S GRIMES HILL RD.

BLACK CREEK ROAD

RTE 22

DR JOHNSON ROAD

RTE 313

BOGTOWN ROAD

RTE 4

CENTER FALLS ROAD

RTE 149

JOE BEANE ROAD

RTE 22A

CR 35

HUNTER ROAD

CAREY ROAD

SAUNDERS ST

CENTER ROAD

WEST VALLEY ROAD

CR 68

COUNTY ROAD 24

BEATTIE HOLLOW RD

CR 113

TIPLADYS ROAD

PATTENS MILLS RD

RTE 149

KING ROAD

RTE 149

WOODARD ROAD

FISH HILL ROAD

CHAMBERS ROAD

SOUTH BAY ROAD

RTE 149

ADAMSVILLE ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 30

CR 113

COUNTY ROAD 59

TOWNSEND ROAD

BLIND BUCK ROAD

HANKS ROAD

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