County profile · official public datasets

Lackawanna County, PA

363 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.6% rated Good, 45.7% Fair, 17.6% Poor.

363
Public bridges: 36.6%
Good condition: 17.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

55th
of 67 on Poor share: 17.6%
Poor-condition share: 363
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Lackawanna County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lackawanna County ranks #55 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 17.6%). Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania contains 363 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.6% are rated “Good,” 45.7% “Fair,” and 17.6% “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

363

Public highway bridges in Lackawanna County

Good condition

36.6%

133 of 363 rated 7-9

Fair condition

45.7%

166 of 363 rated 5-6

Poor condition

17.6%

64 of 363 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#55 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 363 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

36.6% (133)

Fair

45.7% (166)

Poor

17.6% (64)

Lackawanna County's Poor-condition bridges carry 252,156 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 16.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,134 crossings a day against 8,218 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 360 of 363 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

56.2% of Lackawanna County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

204 of the 363 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 36.6% 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 7.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 0011 TR 11 over LEGGETTS CREEK, built 1936, carries 19,134 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 64-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 252,156 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1900s

5
1910s

5
1920s

5
1930s

20
1940s

13
1950s

68
1960s

74
1970s

36
1980s

18
1990s

67
2000s

21
2010s

24
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 74 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the Pennsylvania average (1970).

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

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Lackawanna County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 17.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lackawanna County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Butler County	378	29.9%	55.8%	14.3%	1975
Schuylkill County	368	20.4%	53%	26.6%	1961
Centre County	367	48%	46%	6%	1982
Lackawanna County (this page)	363	36.6%	45.7%	17.6%	1972
Northampton County	356	31.2%	59.6%	9.3%	1970
Cumberland County	348	39.1%	56%	4.9%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (363 bridges here).

Muskingum County, OH · 363 bridges
Grays Harbor County, WA · 363 bridges
Gibson County, IN · 362 bridges
Fayette County, IA · 362 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
Middlesex County, NJ · avg 1972 · 563 bridges

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

All 363 Good 133 Fair 166 Poor 64

Fair-condition bridges (166)

Sort:

Lackawanna County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lackawanna County's Poor-condition bridges carry 252,156 vehicle crossings a day

56.2% of Lackawanna County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 7.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lackawanna 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 (166)

SR 0502 TR 502

SR6011 GRN RIDG ST

TR 347 W LACKA AVE

SR 2018

TR 307 MOOSIC ST

POPLAR STREET

SR 8025

ASTON MTN. RD.

TR 11 SPRUCE ST

PA TPK (I-476)

US 11 TR 11

SR 0081 I-81 NB

SR 0380 I-380 SB

SR 0081 I-81 SB

SR 0502 TR 502

SR 4003

TR 348 MT COBB RD

SR 0380 I-380 SB

SR 0690 TR 690

SR 2013

PA TPK (I-476)

PA TPK (I-476)

SR 0081 I-81 SB

SR 0081 I-81 NB

SR 0081 I-81 SB

SR 0011 TR 11

SR 438 LAPLUME RD

SR 0347 TR 347

COLUMBUS AVE

SR 0081 I-81 SB

SR 0081 I-81 NB

SR 1015

SR 0247 TR 247

SR 0438 TR 438

SR 0690 TR 690

SR 4026 WEST GROVE

GREEN PLACE

SR 0011 TR 11

TR 11 BIRNEY AVE

SR 2107 COLIERY RD

SR 0081 I-81 NB

SR 0438 TR 438

SR 3031

SR 4023

SR 6006

SR 0081 I-81 NB

SR 0081 I-81 SB

SR 0081 I-81

SR 0081 I-81 NB

SR 0081 I-81 SB

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