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.

When Lackawanna County's bridges were built

363 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

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).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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 Poor
Butler County 378 14.3%
Schuylkill County 368 26.6%
Centre County 367 6%
Lackawanna County (this page) 363 17.6%
Northampton County 356 9.3%
Cumberland County 348 4.9%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

Poor-condition bridges (64)

SR 4008

Poor

Over: ACKERLY CREEK

GLENBURN TWP JCT TR 6, Lackawanna, PA

Built 1952 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 248

ALBRIGHT AVENUE

Poor

Over: LACKAWANNA RIVER

200 FT NE OF COURT STREET, Lackawanna, PA

Built 1984 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 6,100

SR 0011 TR 11

Poor

Over: SR 6307 KEYSER AVE

CTY SCR OVER KEYSER AVE, Lackawanna, PA

Built 1963 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 18,902

SR 2004 RESERVR RD

Poor

Over: WHITE OAK RUN

MADISON TWP 239 S TR 590, Lackawanna, PA

Built 1940 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 477

T-474/ROWLANDS RD.

Poor

Over: SO BR TUNKHANNOCK CREEK

BENT. TWP 200 FT SO TR438, Lackawanna, PA

Built 1895 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 30

SR 3020 LINDEN ST

Poor

Over: LACKA CO RAIL AUTHORITY

SCRANTON CTY LINDEN ST, Lackawanna, PA

Built 1970 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 7,758

KNAPP RD

Poor

Over: Norfolk Southern RR

1000 FT SW OF US 6, Lackawanna, PA

Built 1987 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 1,400

SR 0438 TR 438

Poor

Over: SOUTH BR TUNKHANNOCK CRK

SCOTT TWP .5 M E I-81, Lackawanna, PA

Built 1931 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 981

US 0011

Poor

Over: SR 3013 NORTH MAIN AVE

SCRANTON CITY OVR SR 3013, Lackawanna, PA

Built 1963 Load: 41.7 t ADT: 18,902

SR 2011

Poor

Over: LEHIGH RIVER

CLIFTON TP @ WAYNE CO LNE, Lackawanna, PA

Built 1966 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 175

SR 3015

Poor

Over: LACKAWANNA RIVER

MOOSIC-OLD FORGE BO LINE, Lackawanna, PA

Built 1949 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 6,392

OLIVE STREET

Poor

Over: LACKAWANNA RIVER

800 SW OF PROVIDENCE RD, Lackawanna, PA

Built 1957 Load: 44.5 t ADT: 8,200

SR 8005 RAMP A

Poor

Over: SR 8005 RAMP C

SCR C SR8005 RMP A OVER C, Lackawanna, PA

Built 1966 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 4,812

SR 0084 I-84 WB

Poor

Over: TR 435 SB

DUNMORE BORO OVER TR 435, Lackawanna, PA

Built 1974 Load: 68.0 t ADT: 18,181
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.