County profile · official public datasets

Butler County, PA

378 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.9% rated Good, 55.8% Fair, 14.3% Poor.

378
Public bridges: 29.9%
Good condition: 14.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Butler County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

46th
of 67 on Poor share: 14.3%
Poor-condition share: 378
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Butler County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Butler County ranks #46 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 14.3%). Butler County, Pennsylvania contains 378 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.9% are rated “Good,” 55.8% “Fair,” and 14.3% “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

378

Public highway bridges in Butler County

Good condition

29.9%

113 of 378 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.8%

211 of 378 rated 5-6

Poor condition

14.3%

54 of 378 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#46 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 378 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29.9% (113)

Fair

55.8% (211)

Poor

14.3% (54)

Butler County's Poor-condition bridges carry 96,645 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 14.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,790 crossings a day against 5,193 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 378 of 378 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

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

189 of the 378 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 29.9% 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 18.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR3022 over BRUSH CREEK, built 1965, carries 18,268 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 54-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 96,645 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

13
1910s

18
1920s

17
1930s

22
1940s

18
1950s

25
1960s

65
1970s

17
1980s

24
1990s

36
2000s

44
2010s

63
2020s

16

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 65 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1975, 5 years newer than the Pennsylvania average of 1970.

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

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Butler County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 14.3% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Butler County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Delaware County	387	24.5%	63.6%	11.9%	1968
Lehigh County	381	29.4%	59.3%	11.3%	1966
Butler County (this page)	378	29.9%	55.8%	14.3%	1975
Schuylkill County	368	20.4%	53%	26.6%	1961
Centre County	367	48%	46%	6%	1982
Lackawanna County	363	36.6%	45.7%	17.6%	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 Butler 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 Butler County, both outside Pennsylvania so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (378 bridges here).

Jefferson County, LA · 379 bridges
Monterey County, CA · 377 bridges
Ogle County, IL · 377 bridges
Cass County, MO · 377 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Monroe County, NY · avg 1975 · 615 bridges

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

All 378 Good 113 Fair 211 Poor 54

Fair-condition bridges (211)

Sort:

Butler County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Butler County's Poor-condition bridges carry 96,645 vehicle crossings a day

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

One structure carries 18.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Butler 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 (211)

SR0019

SR0028

SR0422

SR1004

SR3007

SR3015

T-301 POWELL ROAD

T-492 McFANN RD

T-731 E. ELDORADO

SR3044 (T-365)

SR0528

SR2023

SR4007

SR0008 NB&SB

SR0019 NB&SB

SR0019 NB&SB

SR0058

SR0068 EB&WB

I-79 SR8079 SR9479

SR0079 NB&SB

SR 0228

SR0228

SR0422

SR0422

SR0422

SR1021

SR2010

SR3003

SR4007

SR4008

T-620 FALLECKER RD

T-601 RALSTON RD

NORTH SHORE DRIVE

T-458 THOMPSONTOWN

T-416 SHROYER MILL

SR0038

SR0079 SB

SR0080 EB

SR0080 WB

SR0268

T-360 WELSH RD

T-552 CHRISTY ROAD

SR0079 NB

SR0079 SOUTHBOUND

SR0422 EB&WB

SR1019

SR4006

T-621 CHERRY ROAD

CHURCH ROAD

SR2008

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