County profile · official public datasets

Lancaster County, PA

801 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 30.6% rated Good, 58.2% Fair, 11.2% Poor.

801
Public bridges: 30.6%
Good condition: 11.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lancaster County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.

Top 45%
lowest Poor share in state: 11.2%
Poor-condition share: 801
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Lancaster County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lancaster County ranks #30 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.2%). Lancaster County, Pennsylvania contains 801 public highway bridges. Roughly 30.6% are rated “Good,” 58.2% “Fair,” and 11.2% “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

801

Public highway bridges in Lancaster County

Good condition

30.6%

245 of 801 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.2%

466 of 801 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.2%

90 of 801 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#30 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 801 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

30.6% (245)

Fair

58.2% (466)

Poor

11.2% (90)

Lancaster County's Poor-condition bridges carry 205,136 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,305 crossings a day against 7,197 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 796 of 801 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.4% of Lancaster County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

428 of the 801 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 30.6% 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 7.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 4009 over Eliminated RR Tracks, built 1946, carries 15,708 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 90-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 205,136 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

22
1900s

8
1910s

5
1920s

31
1930s

42
1940s

69
1950s

56
1960s

106
1970s

127
1980s

70
1990s

77
2000s

75
2010s

94
2020s

19

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 127 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Pennsylvania average (1970).

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

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Lancaster County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.2% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1964 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lancaster County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Montgomery County	828	32%	56.5%	11.5%	1968
Lancaster County (this page)	801	30.6%	58.2%	11.2%	1973
Bucks County	699	24.3%	60.2%	15.5%	1958
Chester County	680	25%	61.3%	13.7%	1963
Berks County	667	21.4%	63.6%	15%	1962
Washington County	655	38.3%	49.6%	12.1%	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 Lancaster 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 Lancaster County, both outside Pennsylvania so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (801 bridges here).

Fort Bend County, TX · 795 bridges
Middlesex County, MA · 818 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · 783 bridges
Hamilton County, OH · 783 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Sacramento County, CA · avg 1973 · 740 bridges

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

All 801 Good 245 Fair 466 Poor 90

Fair-condition bridges (466)

Sort:

Lancaster County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lancaster County's Poor-condition bridges carry 205,136 vehicle crossings a day

53.4% of Lancaster County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 7.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lancaster 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 (466)

PA 272; Oregon Pk

PA-283 EB; SR 0300

PA 283 WB; SR 0300

PA 283 EB; SR 0300

PA 283 WB; SR 0300

PA 441; SR 0441

PA 501; Furn. Hill

LR 1124 INCOMPLETE

T-444 PEACH BTM RD

T901 CHURCHTOWN RD

AMISH RD

PA 340; Old Phia.

US Route 30

Eden Rd; T-717

US 222;N.B. SR0222

US 222 SB; SR 0222

SR 1082; T-852

PA 241; W.High st

PA324;New Danville

PA 340; SR 0340

PA 372;SR 0372

Millersville Rd

PA 772; SR 0772

SR 1013

SR 1029 Snakehill

SR 1035

SR 1042

SR 1055

S Duke St

Twp Rd(SR3002)

River Rd(TWP. RD.)

SR 3008; TWP RD

SR 3009

Scotland Rd

ELIZABETHTOWN RD.

SR 4035

SR 1035 LR 36011

SR 1052 LR 36170

PA TPK (I-76)

LR 36169 SR 1059

T-389 DRY WELLS RD

T-932 WATER ST

KURTZ ROAD

T-374 Sylvan Rd

T-793 S CHIQUES RD

T-535 MSSR SCHL RD

T-490 KING PEN RD

T-490 KING PEN RD

T-332 CAMP RD

T-843 SCHWANGER RD

Related