County profile · official public datasets

Centre County, PA

367 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48% rated Good, 46% Fair, 6% Poor.

367
Public bridges
48%
Good condition
6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Centre 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 12%
lowest Poor share in state
6%
Poor-condition share
367
public highway bridges
1982
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.

Centre County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Centre County ranks #8 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6%). Centre County, Pennsylvania contains 367 public highway bridges. Roughly 48% are rated “Good,” 46% “Fair,” and 6% “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

367

Public highway bridges in Centre County

Good condition

48%

176 of 367 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46%

169 of 367 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6%

22 of 367 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#8 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 367 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
48% (176)
Fair
46% (169)
Poor
6% (22)

Centre County's Poor-condition bridges carry 43,581 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,981 crossings a day against 5,080 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 367 of 367 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39% of Centre County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

143 of the 367 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 48% 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 30.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 150-PA 150 over LOGAN BRANCH, built 1934, carries 13,482 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 22-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 43,581 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Centre County's bridges were built

367 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 100 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1982, 12 years newer than the Pennsylvania average of 1970.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Centre County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is 13 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Centre County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Lehigh County 381 11.3%
Butler County 378 14.3%
Schuylkill County 368 26.6%
Centre County (this page) 367 6%
Lackawanna County 363 17.6%
Northampton County 356 9.3%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (367 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1982 here).

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

All 367 Good 176 Fair 169 Poor 22

Poor-condition bridges (22)

T942 L COLEVLLE RD

Poor

Over: BUFFALO RUN

900 FT SW OF SR 3006, Centre, PA

Built 1965 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 500

T-524 BROWN RD

Poor

Over: ELK CREEK

1900 FT SOUTH OF SR 192, Centre, PA

Built 1940 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 20

T-467 HOY RD

Poor

Over: LITTLE FISHING CREEK

0.8 MI SW OF NITTANY, Centre, PA

Built 1936 Load: 15.4 t ADT: 150

T-519 FIEDLER RD

Poor

Over: PINE CREEK

1.1 MI WEST OF WOODWARD, Centre, PA

Built 1925 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 15

LAKE RD

Poor

Over: SINKING CREEK

2.4 MI S 322, Centre, PA

Built 1940 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 50

T-312 SHADYDELLRD

Poor

Over: LAUREL RUN

2 MI. WNW OF PORT MATILDA, Centre, PA

Built 1972 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 25

RAILROAD STREET

Poor

Over: BUFFALO RUN

.1 MI EAST OF INT SR 3006, Centre, PA

Built 1925 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 240

T-505

Poor

Over: BEECH CREEK

VILLAGE OF ORVISTON, Centre, PA

Built 1989 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 242

SR 4005

Poor

Over: SR 80-I 80

EXIT 147 SNOW SHOE INTER, Centre, PA

Built 1965 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 6,696

MILL STREET

Poor

Over: LICK RUN

.1 MI NE OF SR 26 INTER, Centre, PA

Built 1915 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 250

T-526 FOX GAP ROAD

Poor

Over: ELK CREEK

1800 FROM INTER OF SR 192, Centre, PA

Built 1994 Load: 31.8 t ADT: 50

SR 3022

Poor

Over: SR 26-PA 26

STATE COLLEGE BORO, Centre, PA

Built 1960 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 10,875

SR 150-PA 150

Poor

Over: LOGAN BRANCH

BELLEFONTE BORO, Centre, PA

Built 1934 Load: 33.6 t ADT: 13,482

SR 150-PA 150

Poor

Over: HOLT HOLLOW RUN

MILESBURG, Centre, PA

Built 1966 Load: 33.6 t ADT: 4,874

SR 3006

Poor

Over: MILL RACE

BELLEFONTE, Centre, PA

Built 1905 Load: 33.6 t ADT: 1,890

SR 26-PA 26

Poor

Over: SEDA-COG/NIT& BALD EAGLE

HOWARD, Centre, PA

Built 1967 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 2,413

T-496 EAGLEVILLE R

Poor

Over: BALD EAGLE CREEK

2300 FT FROM INT SR 1002, Centre, PA

Built 1960 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 400

SR 2005

Poor

Over: SINKING CREEK

SPRING MILLS, Centre, PA

Built 1960 Load: 44.5 t ADT: 575

T-305 E. HANNAH LN

Poor

Over: BALD EAGLE CREEK

585 FT SOUTH INT RT 220, Centre, PA

Built 1925 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 50

ON TSR 966

Poor

Over: HALF MOON CREEK

MARENGO, Centre, PA

Built 1908 Load: 51.7 t ADT: 429

T-334 BRUSH VALLEY

Poor

Over: SPRING CREEK

200FT FROM INT OF SR 2004, Centre, PA

Built 1977 Load: 54.4 t ADT: 330

T-536 EGG HILL RD

Poor

Over: SINKING CREEK

1100 FT SW OF INT SR 2008, Centre, PA

Built 1982 Load: 99.8 t ADT: 25

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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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.