Total bridges
363
Public highway bridges in Lackawanna County
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.
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.
When Lackawanna County's bridges were built
363 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 2
Built before 1900
2 bridges
- 1900s 5
1900–1909
5 bridges
- 1910s 5
1910–1919
5 bridges
- 1920s 5
1920–1929
5 bridges
- 1930s 20
1930–1939
20 bridges
- 1940s 13
1940–1949
13 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
68 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
74 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
36 bridges
- 1980s 18
1980–1989
18 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
67 bridges
- 2000s 21
2000–2009
21 bridges
- 2010s 24
2010–2019
24 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
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.
| 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.
Fair-condition bridges (166)
SR 0006 TR 6 & 11
FairOver: Ackerly Creek
LAPLUME TWP .1 M W TR 438, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1953 Load: 59.0 t ADT: 10,037
SR 6006 EIGHTH AVE
FairOver: LACKAWANNA RIVER
CARBONDALE CITY 8TH AVE, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1998 Load: 59.0 t ADT: 12,480
PA TPK (I-476)
FairOver: SR3003 LR952
SCRANTON CITY, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1957 Load: 60.8 t ADT: 1,196
SR 0081 I-81
FairOver: SR 6006 BUSINESS 6
SCRANTON CITY OVER BUS 6, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1958 Load: 63.5 t ADT: 29,825
SR 0084 I-84 WB
FairOver: SR 2005
JEFFERSON TWP OVER SR2005, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1976 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 7,268
SR 0438 TR 438
FairOver: SO BR TUNKHANNOCK CREEK
SCOTT TWP JCT I-81, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1931 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 981
SR 0084 I-84 EB
FairOver: SR 2005
JEFFERSON TWP OVR SR 2005, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1976 Load: 66.2 t ADT: 7,167
SR 0438 TR 438
FairOver: BR TUNKHANNOCK CREEK
BENTON TWP 1.2 M E TR 407, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1990 Load: 67.1 t ADT: 403
SR 0081 I-81
FairOver: BOULEVARD AVENUE
SCRANTON CTY OVER BLD AVE, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1958 Load: 68.0 t ADT: 49,634
MAIN STREET
FairOver: WILDCAT CREEK
BLAKELY ADJ RIVERSIDE DR, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1991 Load: 69.9 t ADT: 11,408
SR 3009
FairOver: BRANCH OF GARDNERS CREEK
NEWTON TWP .8M S SR 3003, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1937 Load: 71.7 t ADT: 579
SR 0006 TR 6 & 11
FairOver: S BR TUNKHANNOCK CREEK
LAPLUME TWP 1 M W TR 438, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1954 Load: 80.7 t ADT: 10,037
SR 0081 I-81
FairOver: NORTH MAIN AVE
SCRANTON CTY OV N MAIN AV, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1958 Load: 88.0 t ADT: 39,499
SR 0011 TR 11
FairOver: LEGGETS CREEK
CITY SCRANTON .1M N EXPWY, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1993 Load: 99.8 t ADT: 19,134
SR 0524 TR 524
FairOver: KENNEDY CREEK
SCOTT TWP .2 M W I-81, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1986 Load: 99.8 t ADT: 1,003
BRANCH STREET
FairOver: LITTLE ROARING BROOK
860 FT FROM E. DRINKER ST, Lackawanna, PA
Built 1979 Load: 99.8 t ADT: 10
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.