County profile · official public datasets

Clarion County, PA

172 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 27.9% rated Good, 64% Fair, 8.1% Poor.

172
Public bridges: 27.9%
Good condition: 8.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Clarion County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 22%
lowest Poor share in state: 8.1%
Poor-condition share: 172
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Clarion County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Clarion County ranks #15 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.1%). Clarion County, Pennsylvania contains 172 public highway bridges. Roughly 27.9% are rated “Good,” 64% “Fair,” and 8.1% “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

172

Public highway bridges in Clarion County

Good condition

27.9%

48 of 172 rated 7-9

Fair condition

64%

110 of 172 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.1%

14 of 172 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#15 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 172 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

27.9% (48)

Fair

64% (110)

Poor

8.1% (14)

Clarion County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,056 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 861 crossings a day against 783 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 172 of 172 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

55.8% of Clarion County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

96 of the 172 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 27.9% 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 79% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 0080 WB over SR 4005 & CANOE CREEK, built 1966, carries 9,530 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 14-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 12,056 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

3
1910s

3
1920s

3
1930s

16
1940s

7
1950s

12
1960s

51
1970s

4
1980s

12
1990s

18
2000s

14
2010s

26
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 51 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Pennsylvania average (1970).

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

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Clarion County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.1% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1967 is 7 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Clarion County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Perry County	183	32.2%	53.6%	14.2%	1965
Clarion County (this page)	172	27.9%	64%	8.1%	1974
Juniata County	169	30.2%	56.2%	13.6%	1969
Union County	163	50.9%	44.8%	4.3%	1969
Snyder County	161	47.2%	47.2%	5.6%	1966
Fulton County	159	32.1%	56%	11.9%	1967

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (172 bridges here).

Colbert County, AL · 172 bridges
Marshall County, AL · 172 bridges
Moultrie County, IL · 172 bridges
Newton County, IN · 172 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 172 Good 48 Fair 110 Poor 14

Fair-condition bridges (110)

Sort:

Clarion County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Clarion County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,056 vehicle crossings a day

55.8% of Clarion County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 79% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Clarion 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 (110)

T-564 WINCKLICK RD

T-685 CEMETERY RD

SR0368

T-383 COULTER RD

T-444 CURLL RD

MADISON STREET

T-571 MILLCREEK RD

T-523 TIMBER BRIDG

SR3016

SR 0080 WB

T-391 JEFFERSON RD

T-525 Deer Hollow

T-852 WHITE OAK DR

SR2007

SR2001

T-462 SLED ROAD

T-506 WALLWORK RD

SR0080 WB

SR4008

SR0068

SR0068

SR4017

T-472 HUBER RD

SR0036

SR0066 NB&SB

SR0080 EB&WB

SR0080 EB&WB

SR0322

SR0322

SR1001

SR2005

SR3002

SR8010

SR0080 EB

SR2002

SR2001

SR 0080 EB

SR-0338

SR0368

SR0861

SR0861

SR1015

SR2009

T-407 CULBERTSON

T-589 SHADY DRIVE

T-310 METZ RD

SR8002

SR0068

SR1005

SR2009

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