County profile · official public datasets

Armstrong County, PA

263 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.5% rated Good, 58.6% Fair, 8% Poor.

263
Public bridges: 33.5%
Good condition: 8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Armstrong County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 19%
lowest Poor share in state: 8%
Poor-condition share: 263
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Armstrong County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Armstrong County ranks #13 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8%). Armstrong County, Pennsylvania contains 263 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.5% are rated “Good,” 58.6% “Fair,” and 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

263

Public highway bridges in Armstrong County

Good condition

33.5%

88 of 263 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.6%

154 of 263 rated 5-6

Poor condition

21 of 263 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 67

Among Pennsylvania counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 263 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33.5% (88)

Fair

58.6% (154)

Poor

8% (21)

Armstrong County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,649 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 698 crossings a day against 1,682 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 263 of 263 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49.8% of Armstrong County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

131 of the 263 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 33.5% 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 47.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR0028 over SCRUBGRASS CREEK, built 1928, carries 6,931 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 21-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 14,649 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

10
1920s

11
1930s

20
1940s

17
1950s

25
1960s

30
1970s

22
1980s

19
1990s

23
2000s

23
2010s

50
2020s

12

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 50 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1976, 6 years newer than the Pennsylvania average of 1970.

How Armstrong County compares with Pennsylvania's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Armstrong County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 5 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 66 Pennsylvania counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Armstrong County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cambria County	284	35.9%	56.7%	7.4%	1975
Columbia County	271	42.8%	47.2%	10%	1965
Lawrence County	265	47.5%	41.1%	11.3%	1978
Armstrong County (this page)	263	33.5%	58.6%	8%	1976
Wayne County	259	27%	41.7%	31.3%	1967
Adams County	254	36.2%	57.1%	6.7%	1972

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 Armstrong 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 Armstrong County, both outside Pennsylvania so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (263 bridges here).

Douglas County, CO · 263 bridges
Bingham County, ID · 263 bridges
Guthrie County, IA · 263 bridges
Henry County, MO · 263 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 263 Good 88 Fair 154 Poor 21

Fair-condition bridges (154)

Sort:

Armstrong County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Armstrong County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,649 vehicle crossings a day

49.8% of Armstrong County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 47.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Armstrong County compares with Pennsylvania'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 (154)

SR0422 EB&WB

SR4007

SR0056

SR0422 WB

SR 4010

SR0066

SR0068

SR0068

SR0085

SR3128

SR0422

SR2046

T-784 DRY RIDGE RD

SR0085

SR0056

SR0066 NB&SB

SR1010

T-300 WILSON RD

SR0028

SR0028

SR0068

SR2025

SR0839

SR0422

SR1033

T-576 SLOAN ROAD

SR0028

SR0268

SR1020

SR1040

SR2026

T-750 WALKER FLAT

SR3128

SR0068

SR2063

SR0210

T-427 CEMETERY RD

SR1033

SR4023

SR2058

T-562 EVERGREEN RD

SR1028

T-414 HILL ROAD

SR0058

SR0422 WB

SR8008 RAMP ONLY

SR1034

SR3004

SR0422 EB

SR2058

Related