County profile · official public datasets

Fayette County, PA

422 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.6% rated Good, 42.7% Fair, 17.8% Poor.

422
Public bridges: 39.6%
Good condition: 17.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

56th
of 67 on Poor share: 17.8%
Poor-condition share: 422
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Fayette County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fayette County ranks #56 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 17.8%). Fayette County, Pennsylvania contains 422 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.6% are rated “Good,” 42.7% “Fair,” and 17.8% “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

422

Public highway bridges in Fayette County

Good condition

39.6%

167 of 422 rated 7-9

Fair condition

42.7%

180 of 422 rated 5-6

Poor condition

17.8%

75 of 422 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#56 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 422 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

39.6% (167)

Fair

42.7% (180)

Poor

17.8% (75)

Fayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 80,796 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 17.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,077 crossings a day against 2,452 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 422 of 422 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.6% of Fayette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

226 of the 422 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 39.6% 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 15.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 711 CRAWFORD AV over YOUGHIOGHENY SR1037 CSXT, built 1959, carries 12,362 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 75-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 80,796 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

4
1900s

18
1910s

13
1920s

20
1930s

36
1940s

40
1950s

30
1960s

38
1970s

34
1980s

18
1990s

52
2000s

45
2010s

68
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 68 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1971) matches the Pennsylvania average (1970).

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

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Fayette County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 17.8% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Fayette County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Erie County	442	37.8%	52.7%	9.5%	1976
Mercer County	438	39.3%	45.2%	15.5%	1972
Tioga County	429	49.4%	47.3%	3.3%	1977
Fayette County (this page)	422	39.6%	42.7%	17.8%	1971
Bedford County	417	30%	60.9%	9.1%	1965
Bradford County	399	43.4%	46.6%	10%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (422 bridges here).

Siskiyou County, CA · 421 bridges
Caddo County, OK · 424 bridges
Maury County, TN · 424 bridges
Kay County, OK · 419 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges
Monmouth County, NJ · avg 1971 · 505 bridges

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

All 422 Good 167 Fair 180 Poor 75

All bridges (422)

Sort:

Fayette County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Fayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 80,796 vehicle crossings a day

53.6% of Fayette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 15.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fayette 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

All bridges (422)

PA TPK (TOLL 43)

SR 0051

SR 0819

SR 4038

SOLOMON FULTON RD

MIDDLE RIDGE ROAD

SR 0040

SR 1058

SR 0119 NORTHBOUND

NEBO ROAD

SR 0381

SR 0381

SR 3027

SR 4003

T-738 BELL DR

SR 0040

SR 0051

TUB RUN ROAD

SR 1029

SR 3029

DAHL ROAD

YORK AVE

US 119

SR 0119

WALNUT AVE - TR524

POTTER SCHOOL ROAD

Foxburg Road

Clay Road

SR 0711

SR 1051

SR 4008

DUNBAR STREET

N BEESON AVENUE

SR 4028

Park Road

T-553 Canistra Rd

SR 0040

SR 0119

SR 0119

SR 3014

SR 4032

MOUNTAIN ROAD

Greenlick Hollow R

SR 1051

CONNELLSVILLE ST

SR 0043

SR 0119

SR 0201

SR 3009

CAMPGROUND ROAD

Related