County profile · official public datasets

Luzerne County, PA

457 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28.9% rated Good, 45.5% Fair, 25.6% Poor.

457
Public bridges: 28.9%
Good condition: 25.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Luzerne County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

64th
of 67 on Poor share: 25.6%
Poor-condition share: 457
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.

Luzerne County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Luzerne County ranks #64 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 25.6%). Luzerne County, Pennsylvania contains 457 public highway bridges. Roughly 28.9% are rated “Good,” 45.5% “Fair,” and 25.6% “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

457

Public highway bridges in Luzerne County

Good condition

28.9%

132 of 457 rated 7-9

Fair condition

45.5%

208 of 457 rated 5-6

Poor condition

25.6%

117 of 457 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#64 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 457 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

28.9% (132)

Fair

45.5% (208)

Poor

25.6% (117)

Luzerne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 973,777 vehicle crossings a day

That is 24.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 25.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 8,395 crossings a day against 7,214 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 455 of 457 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

59.5% of Luzerne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

272 of the 457 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 28.9% 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 3.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

TR309 CROSS VALLEY over TOBY CREEK, built 1963, carries 37,437 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 117-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 973,777 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

3
1910s

7
1920s

28
1930s

28
1940s

25
1950s

48
1960s

124
1970s

24
1980s

32
1990s

37
2000s

26
2010s

65
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 124 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.1% 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 Luzerne County compares with Pennsylvania's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Luzerne County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 25.6% Poor share is the 6th-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 Luzerne County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Lycoming County	482	50.8%	45.2%	3.9%	1975
Luzerne County (this page)	457	28.9%	45.5%	25.6%	1972
Somerset County	454	33%	52.6%	14.3%	1969
Dauphin County	449	22%	69.5%	8.5%	1972
Erie County	442	37.8%	52.7%	9.5%	1976
Mercer County	438	39.3%	45.2%	15.5%	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 Luzerne 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 Luzerne County, both outside Pennsylvania so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (457 bridges here).

Jefferson County, TX · 457 bridges
Denver County, CO · 458 bridges
Hunt County, TX · 456 bridges
Buffalo County, NE · 459 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.

All 457 Good 132 Fair 208 Poor 117

Fair-condition bridges (208)

Sort:

Luzerne County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Luzerne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 973,777 vehicle crossings a day

59.5% of Luzerne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 3.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Luzerne 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 (208)

I-80 EB

SR 0081 I-81 SB

SR 0081 I-81 SB

SR 0309 TR 309

SR 0315 TR 315

SR 0940 TR 940

SR 2042 NUANGLA RD

SR3008 RUCKLE HILL

SR 3018

PA TPK (I-476)

SR 2004

SR 2042

TR 29 NB & SB

I-81 NB

I-81 SB

SR 0081 I-81 NB

I-81 NB

SR 0081 I-81 SB

SR 0309 TR 309

SR 0924 TR 924

SR 2019 OAK STREET

SR 3016 TANK RD

SR0029 TR 29 NB&SB

I-80 EB

SR 0080 I-80 EB

SR 0080 I-80 WB

SR 0081 I-81

SR 0081 I-81

SR 0081 I-81

SR 0081 I-81

SR 0081 & SR 8015

SR 0239 TR 239

SR 0309 TR 309

TR 309 I-81 RAMPS

SR 0309 TR 309

SR 0309 TR 309

SR 0315 TR 315

PA 437

SR 0924 TR 924

SR 0940 TR 940

SR1001 WASHNGTN AV

SR 1037

SR 2002

SR 2042 NUANGLA RD

SR 3010 ALBERDEEN

SR 4005 CRAGLE RD

SR 4007

SR 4014

SR 4017

SR 4039 T-482

Related