County profile · official public datasets

Delaware County, PA

387 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 24.5% rated Good, 63.6% Fair, 11.9% Poor.

387
Public bridges: 24.5%
Good condition: 11.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Delaware County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

34th
of 67 on Poor share: 11.9%
Poor-condition share: 387
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Delaware County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Delaware County ranks #34 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.9%). Delaware County, Pennsylvania contains 387 public highway bridges. Roughly 24.5% are rated “Good,” 63.6% “Fair,” and 11.9% “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

387

Public highway bridges in Delaware County

Good condition

24.5%

95 of 387 rated 7-9

Fair condition

63.6%

246 of 387 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.9%

46 of 387 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#34 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 387 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

24.5% (95)

Fair

63.6% (246)

Poor

11.9% (46)

Delaware County's Poor-condition bridges carry 542,409 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 12,054 crossings a day against 16,924 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 386 of 387 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

52.5% of Delaware County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

203 of the 387 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 24.5% 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 9.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

INTERSTATE 95 (NB) over NAAMANS CREEK ROAD, built 1967, carries 51,626 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 46-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 542,409 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

5
1900s

7
1910s

7
1920s

34
1930s

24
1940s

22
1950s

15
1960s

74
1970s

42
1980s

67
1990s

50
2000s

11
2010s

19
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 74 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the Pennsylvania average (1970).

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

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Delaware County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.9% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1968 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Delaware County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Bradford County	399	43.4%	46.6%	10%	1971
Crawford County	399	35.6%	46.9%	17.5%	1965
Delaware County (this page)	387	24.5%	63.6%	11.9%	1968
Lehigh County	381	29.4%	59.3%	11.3%	1966
Butler County	378	29.9%	55.8%	14.3%	1975
Schuylkill County	368	20.4%	53%	26.6%	1961

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (387 bridges here).

Alfalfa County, OK · 387 bridges
Calhoun County, AL · 386 bridges
Stanislaus County, CA · 386 bridges
Gibson County, TN · 386 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1968 here).

San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges
Humboldt County, CA · avg 1968 · 396 bridges

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

All 387 Good 95 Fair 246 Poor 46

Fair-condition bridges (246)

Sort:

Delaware County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Delaware County's Poor-condition bridges carry 542,409 vehicle crossings a day

52.5% of Delaware County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 9.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Delaware 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 (246)

SPROUL ROAD

MID-COUNTY EXWY.NB

EAGLE/BURMONT ROAD

FOURTH AVENUE

INTERSTATE 95

INTERSTATE 95(NB)

PROVIDENCE ROAD

LINCOLN AVENUE

PLUSH MILL ROAD

LAWRENCE ROAD

GRADYVILLE ROAD

BUCK LANE

ORANGE STREET

CHESTER PIKE

INTERSTATE 95(SB)

INTERSTATE 95(NB)

SPROUL ROAD

CONCHESTER HIGHWAY

PENNELL ROAD

MACDADE BOULEVARD

MACDADE BOULEVARD

MARSHALL ROAD

STEWART AVENUE

DELCHESTER ROAD

LOWRYS LANE

4TH STREET

BEVERLY BLVD

INTERSTATE 95(SB)

4TH STREET

PROVIDENCE ROAD

MARKET STREET

MID-COUNTY EXWY.SB

MILL ROAD

MARPLE AVENUE

GARRETT AVENUE

GOVERNOR PRINTZ BL

ST.DAVIDS ROAD

BORTON DALE ROAD

I-95 RAMPS R&S SB

SPRINGTON ROAD

MEDIA BY-PASS

INTERSTATE 95

INDUSTRIAL AVENUE

RELOC;LR 762 W.B.

SPROUL ROAD

MID-COUNTY EXWY.SB

OHARA DRIVE

HAVERFORD ROAD

KNOWLTON ROAD

CHESTER CREEK ROAD

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