County profile · official public datasets

Bedford County, PA

417 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 30% rated Good, 60.9% Fair, 9.1% Poor.

417
Public bridges: 30%
Good condition: 9.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Bedford County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 30%
lowest Poor share in state: 9.1%
Poor-condition share: 417
public highway bridges: 1965
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.

Bedford County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bedford County ranks #20 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.1%). Bedford County, Pennsylvania contains 417 public highway bridges. Roughly 30% are rated “Good,” 60.9% “Fair,” and 9.1% “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

417

Public highway bridges in Bedford County

Good condition

30%

125 of 417 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60.9%

254 of 417 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.1%

38 of 417 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#20 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 417 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

30% (125)

Fair

60.9% (254)

Poor

9.1% (38)

Bedford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 100,875 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,726 crossings a day against 1,130 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 416 of 417 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

64.3% of Bedford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

268 of the 417 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 30% 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 35.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

PA TPK (I-70&I-76) over SR 2019(LR 05036), built 1939, carries 36,252 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 38-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 100,875 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

8
1900s

3
1910s

4
1920s

21
1930s

86
1940s

29
1950s

37
1960s

57
1970s

34
1980s

23
1990s

33
2000s

28
2010s

49
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 86 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1965, 5 years older than the Pennsylvania average of 1970.

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

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Bedford County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.1% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bedford County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Mercer County	438	39.3%	45.2%	15.5%	1972
Tioga County	429	49.4%	47.3%	3.3%	1977
Fayette County	422	39.6%	42.7%	17.8%	1971
Bedford County (this page)	417	30%	60.9%	9.1%	1965
Bradford County	399	43.4%	46.6%	10%	1971
Crawford County	399	35.6%	46.9%	17.5%	1965

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (417 bridges here).

Macomb County, MI · 417 bridges
St. Charles County, MO · 417 bridges
Santa Barbara County, CA · 418 bridges
Lucas County, OH · 418 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1965 here).

Windsor County, VT · avg 1965 · 483 bridges
Harper County, KS · avg 1965 · 372 bridges
Caledonia County, VT · avg 1965 · 247 bridges
Macoupin County, IL · avg 1965 · 242 bridges

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

All 417 Good 125 Fair 254 Poor 38

Good-condition bridges (125)

Sort:

Bedford County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bedford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 100,875 vehicle crossings a day

64.3% of Bedford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bedford 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

Good-condition bridges (125)

T-421 (Cider Rd)

PA 36

PA 96

SR 2008

PA 56

T-383 Barkley Road

PA 56

PA 31

T-397 Big Run Road

Ritchey Bridge Rd

PA 36

T404 LAKE GORDON R

SR 1036

US 30

WATSON STREET

T-541 CRISSMAN RD

Quaker Valley Rd

T-494

PA 326

HYNDMAN RD (SR 96)

SR 1032

SR 3009

SR 2007

US 30

SR 2007

PA 96

LINCOLN HWY

Burnt House Rd

PA 96

SR 4034

PA 26

Potter Crk Brch Rd

SR 1005(OLD PA 36)

PA 869

SR 1026

SR 1004 (LR 05039)

Beaverdam Rd

PA 26

PA 96

SR 1001

SR 4019

SR 3019

SR 2011

Dell Road T-702

PA 26

PA 96

SR 2002

T378 Madley Church

SR 3019

PA 26

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