County profile · official public datasets

Cambria County, PA

284 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.9% rated Good, 56.7% Fair, 7.4% Poor.

284
Public bridges: 35.9%
Good condition: 7.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cambria 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 18%
lowest Poor share in state: 7.4%
Poor-condition share: 284
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.

Cambria County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cambria County ranks #12 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.4%). Cambria County, Pennsylvania contains 284 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.9% are rated “Good,” 56.7% “Fair,” and 7.4% “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

284

Public highway bridges in Cambria County

Good condition

35.9%

102 of 284 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56.7%

161 of 284 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.4%

21 of 284 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#12 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 284 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35.9% (102)

Fair

56.7% (161)

Poor

7.4% (21)

Cambria County's Poor-condition bridges carry 20,093 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 957 crossings a day against 3,413 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 284 of 284 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.1% of Cambria County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

131 of the 284 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 35.9% 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 27.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

PA 53 over US 22, built 1983, carries 5,478 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 20,093 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

3
1910s

8
1920s

7
1930s

19
1940s

16
1950s

11
1960s

60
1970s

26
1980s

37
1990s

32
2000s

24
2010s

32
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 60 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.1% 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 Cambria County compares with Pennsylvania's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Cambria County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.4% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1968 is 7 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cambria County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Beaver County	299	41.1%	48.8%	10%	1972
Franklin County	294	29.6%	62.2%	8.2%	1964
Clearfield County	292	38.4%	47.6%	14%	1971
Susquehanna County	284	36.3%	44.7%	19%	1969
Cambria County (this page)	284	35.9%	56.7%	7.4%	1975
Columbia County	271	42.8%	47.2%	10%	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 Cambria 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 Cambria County, both outside Pennsylvania so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (284 bridges here).

Logan County, OK · 284 bridges
Tillman County, OK · 284 bridges
Washington County, TN · 284 bridges
Gonzales County, TX · 284 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 284 Good 102 Fair 161 Poor 21

Poor-condition bridges (21)

Sort:

Cambria County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cambria County's Poor-condition bridges carry 20,093 vehicle crossings a day

46.1% of Cambria County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 27.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cambria 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

Poor-condition bridges (21)

COTTONWOOD STREET

MAPLE AVENUE

SONMAN AVENUE

SR 1009

ACCESS ROAD

GILLESPIE AVENUE

FALCON DRIVE

PA 160

ANNIE AVE

PA 160

T-388 KEPPLE ROAD

T-406 JAMESTOWN RD

Iron Street

PA 53

ST.MARYS AVENUE

MAIN STREET

T-405 HUNT ROAD

T520 Thirteen Hill

WIDMAN STREET

8TH STREET

SR 1001

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