Total bridges
265
Public highway bridges in Lawrence County
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.
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.
When Lawrence County's bridges were built
265 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 3
Built before 1900
3 bridges
- 1900s 4
1900–1909
4 bridges
- 1910s 11
1910–1919
11 bridges
- 1920s 8
1920–1929
8 bridges
- 1930s 9
1930–1939
9 bridges
- 1940s 9
1940–1949
9 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
21 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
26 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
37 bridges
- 1980s 15
1980–1989
15 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
36 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
31 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
50 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
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.
| 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 bridges (265)
BALPH AV
PoorOver: BIG RUN
037001 BALPH AVE-NEW CAST, Lawrence, PA
Built 1956 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 25
River Road
PoorOver: Snake Run
145 ft. from Wampum Ave., Lawrence, PA
Built 1995 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 500
COVERT RD
PoorOver: SR 0376 EB WB
COVERT RD. OVER 376, Lawrence, PA
Built 1972 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 2,411
WEST WASHINGTON ST
PoorOver: NCIR / ISS RAILROAD
1/2 MI. WEST OF SR 0018, Lawrence, PA
Built 1924 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 7,349
BELTWAY EX
PoorOver: NESHANNOCK CREEK
037028 CITY OF NEW CASTLE, Lawrence, PA
Built 1968 Load: 29.9 t ADT: 2,000
EASTBROOK RD
PoorOver: HOTTENBAUGH RUN
0.2 MI. W.OF TWP. RD. 533, Lawrence, PA
Built 1930 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 3,153
FREW MILL RD
PoorOver: BRANCH BIG RUN
1000 EAST OF TWP. RD.466, Lawrence, PA
Built 1939 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 682
SOUTH MAIN ST
PoorOver: BR.OF HICKORY RUN
446 S OF SR 317, Lawrence, PA
Built 1930 Load: 33.6 t ADT: 601
PADEN RD
PoorOver: HICKORY RUN
206003 NEAR RT 317, Lawrence, PA
Built 1940 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 50
REESE RD
PoorOver: TAYLOR RUN
037014 PLAINGROVE TWP, Lawrence, PA
Built 1981 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 50
STATE LINE RD.
PoorOver: HICKORY CREEK
1/4 MI. SOUTH OF SR 0317, Lawrence, PA
Built 1940 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 491
MUD BRIDGE RD
PoorOver: L BEAVER CRK NORTH FORK
203002 MUD BRIDGE ROAD, Lawrence, PA
Built 1930 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 100
T-683 MAIN ST
PoorOver: MAHONING RIVER TRIB
0.75 MI NW T-326, Lawrence, PA
Built 1950 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 1,000
MCCONNELL ROAD
PoorOver: SLIPPERY ROCK CREEK
ECKERT BR MC MILL PARK, Lawrence, PA
Built 1954 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 62
PAPER MILL RD
PoorOver: NESHANNOCK CREEK
037006 CITY OF NEW CASTLE, Lawrence, PA
Built 1965 Load: 53.5 t ADT: 50
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.