Total bridges
667
Public highway bridges in Berks County
County profile · official public datasets
Berks County, PA
667 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 21.4% rated Good, 63.6% Fair, 15% Poor.
- 667
- Public bridges
- 21.4%
- Good condition
- 15%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Berks 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 67 on Poor share
- 15%
- Poor-condition share
- 667
- public highway bridges
- 1962
- 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.
Berks County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Berks County ranks #49 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15%). Berks County, Pennsylvania contains 667 public highway bridges. Roughly 21.4% are rated “Good,” 63.6% “Fair,” and 15% “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.
Good condition
21.4%
143 of 667 rated 7-9
Fair condition
63.6%
424 of 667 rated 5-6
Poor condition
15%
100 of 667 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#49 of 67
Among Pennsylvania counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 667 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 21.4% (143)
Fair 63.6% (424)
Poor 15% (100)
Berks County's Poor-condition bridges carry 312,870 vehicle crossings a day
That is 5.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,129 crossings a day against 6,540 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 666 of 667 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
68.1% of Berks County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
454 of the 667 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 21.4% 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 26.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
SR 422 (LR793) over THUN RECREATIONAL TRAIL, built 1963, carries 82,168 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 100-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 312,870 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Berks County's bridges were built
667 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 10
Built before 1900
10 bridges
- 1900s 17
1900–1909
17 bridges
- 1910s 22
1910–1919
22 bridges
- 1920s
1920–1929
65 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
59 bridges
- 1940s 26
1940–1949
26 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
84 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
120 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
86 bridges
- 1980s 40
1980–1989
40 bridges
- 1990s 35
1990–1999
35 bridges
- 2000s 35
2000–2009
35 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
59 bridges
- 2020s 9
2020–2029
9 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 120 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1962, 8 years older than the Pennsylvania average of 1970.
How Berks County compares with Pennsylvania's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Berks County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1962 against a peer-group mean of 1965 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 66 Pennsylvania counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bucks County | 699 | 24.3% | 60.2% | 15.5% | 1958 |
| Chester County | 680 | 25% | 61.3% | 13.7% | 1963 |
| Berks County (this page) | 667 | 21.4% | 63.6% | 15% | 1962 |
| Washington County | 655 | 38.3% | 49.6% | 12.1% | 1971 |
| Westmoreland County | 620 | 36.5% | 47.7% | 15.8% | 1975 |
| Philadelphia County | 585 | 22.7% | 64.1% | 13.2% | 1956 |
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 Berks 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 Berks County, both outside Pennsylvania so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside PA (667 bridges here).
- Kern County, CA · 668 bridges
- St. Louis County, MN · 663 bridges
- Hinds County, MS · 663 bridges
- Jefferson County, KY · 662 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1962 here).
- Pecos County, TX · avg 1962 · 470 bridges
- Bristol County, MA · avg 1962 · 384 bridges
- Norfolk County, MA · avg 1962 · 343 bridges
- Ottawa County, KS · avg 1962 · 295 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (667)
PA 10 (LR 06090)
PoorOver: TRIB. TO CONESTOGA CREEK
MORGANTOWN & QUARRY RDS., Berks, PA
Built 1952 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 5,139
WINDING ROAD
PoorOver: IRONSTONE CREEK
0.3 MI. SO.OF SR 2042, Berks, PA
Built 1963 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 190
BOWERS ROAD
PoorOver: NORFOLK SO. (LINE 0342)
NE OF BERKLEY, Berks, PA
Built 1988 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 200
8TH AVENUE
PoorOver: LAUREL RUN CREEK
8TH AVE AND COLUMBIA AVE., Berks, PA
Built 1935 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 200
SR 645(LR 06004)
PoorOver: LITTLE SWATARA CREEK
CAMP SWATARA ROAD, Berks, PA
Built 1949 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 2,570
T-547 RAILROAD RD.
PoorOver: IRISH CREEK
DAUBERVILLE BRIDGE, Berks, PA
Built 1951 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 1,249
BOWERS ROAD
PoorOver: SACONY CREEK
VILLAGE OF BOWERS, Berks, PA
Built 1930 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 500
SKYLINE DRIVE
PoorOver: LESHER RUN
EAST OF SHARTLESVILLE, Berks, PA
Built 1989 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 75
HAWK MTN. ROAD
PoorOver: TRIB TO PINE CREEK
1.4 MI WEST OF PA 143, Berks, PA
Built 1949 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 270
MONOCACY HILL RD
PoorOver: MONOCACY CREEK
MONOCACY HILL BRIDGE, Berks, PA
Built 1977 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 200
OLD ROUTE 22
PoorOver: MILL CREEK
1 MILE EAST OF BETHEL, Berks, PA
Built 1928 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 1,733
KUTZ MILL ROAD
PoorOver: SACONY CREEK
1 MI. NW OF KUTZTOWN, Berks, PA
Built 1869 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 113
BORDNER ROAD
PoorOver: LITTLE SWATARA CREEK
1 MI. NO. OF MT. AETNA, Berks, PA
Built 1911 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 83
LEGION DR
PoorOver: TRIB TO LITTLE SWATARA
EAST OF BETHEL N.OF T721, Berks, PA
Built 1950 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 93
SR 183(LR 310)
PoorOver: NORFOLK/SOUTHERN RR
SCHUYLKILL AVE SB ONE-WAY, Berks, PA
Built 1916 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 6,625
EAST FIRST STREET
PoorOver: HAY CREEK
BET. WATER & CINDER STS., Berks, PA
Built 1950 Load: 66.2 t ADT: 3,600
GRISTMILL ROAD
PoorOver: IRONSTONE CREEK
DOUGLASS PARK/RR TRESTLE, Berks, PA
Built 1900 Load: 95.3 t ADT: 200
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.