County profile · official public datasets

Lawrence County, PA

265 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.5% rated Good, 41.1% Fair, 11.3% Poor.

265
Public bridges: 47.5%
Good condition: 11.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lawrence County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 48%
lowest Poor share in state: 11.3%
Poor-condition share: 265
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Lawrence County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lawrence County ranks #32 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.3%). Lawrence County, Pennsylvania contains 265 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.5% are rated “Good,” 41.1% “Fair,” and 11.3% “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

265

Public highway bridges in Lawrence County

Good condition

47.5%

126 of 265 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41.1%

109 of 265 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.3%

30 of 265 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#32 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 265 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

47.5% (126)

Fair

41.1% (109)

Poor

11.3% (30)

Lawrence County's Poor-condition bridges carry 38,182 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,317 crossings a day against 3,397 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 264 of 265 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

44.9% of Lawrence County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

119 of the 265 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 47.5% 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 45.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

EAST WASHINGTON ST over NESHANNOCK CREEK, built 1909, carries 17,254 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 30-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 38,182 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

3
1900s

4
1910s

11
1920s

8
1930s

9
1940s

9
1950s

21
1960s

26
1970s

37
1980s

15
1990s

36
2000s

31
2010s

50
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 50 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1978, 8 years newer than the Pennsylvania average of 1970.

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

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Lawrence County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.3% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 7 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lawrence County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cambria County	284	35.9%	56.7%	7.4%	1975
Columbia County	271	42.8%	47.2%	10%	1965
Lawrence County (this page)	265	47.5%	41.1%	11.3%	1978
Armstrong County	263	33.5%	58.6%	8%	1976
Wayne County	259	27%	41.7%	31.3%	1967
Adams County	254	36.2%	57.1%	6.7%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (265 bridges here).

Chatham County, GA · 265 bridges
Rock County, MN · 265 bridges
Henry County, OH · 265 bridges
McCurtain County, OK · 265 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 265 Good 126 Fair 109 Poor 30

Good-condition bridges (126)

Sort:

Lawrence County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lawrence County's Poor-condition bridges carry 38,182 vehicle crossings a day

44.9% of Lawrence County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 45.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lawrence 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

Good-condition bridges (126)

MORAVIA STREET

I-376 WB

SR 0376 WB

SR 0376 EB

I-376 EB

SR 0376 WB

Barkley Road

Countyline Road

SR 0376 WB

SR 0376 EB

SOUTH MAIN ST

DARLINGTON ROAD

PA TURNPIKE (I-76)

LAKE RD

SR 0376 WB

WOODSIDE AVE

STATE STREET

US 19

PETERSBURG RD

MAITLAND LANE

PETERSBURG RD

Neshannock Fall Rd

T341 BURKEY ROAD

MAIN STREET

FREW MILL RD

SAVANNAH RD

Chewton-Wurtemburg

Pleasant Road

EASTBROOK ROAD

EAST POLAND AVE

Union Valley Road

MAPLE STREET EXT.

BEAVER VALLEY EXPY

BRENT NORTH LIB RD

SKY HILL RD

PADEN RD

PERRY HW

OLD BUTLER RD

SR 0224

MAIN STREET

SOUTH MAIN STREET

SR 0079 NB

SR 0079 SB

MT. JACKSON ROAD

LAKEWOOD RD

Wampum Rd

PORTERSVILLE ROAD

OLD PULASKI

HIGHLAND AV.

LIBERTY ST

Related