County profile · official public datasets

Montgomery County, PA

828 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 32% rated Good, 56.5% Fair, 11.5% Poor.

828
Public bridges: 32%
Good condition: 11.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 49%
lowest Poor share in state: 11.5%
Poor-condition share: 828
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Montgomery County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Montgomery County ranks #33 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.5%). Montgomery County, Pennsylvania contains 828 public highway bridges. Roughly 32% are rated “Good,” 56.5% “Fair,” and 11.5% “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

828

Public highway bridges in Montgomery County

Good condition

32%

265 of 828 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56.5%

468 of 828 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.5%

95 of 828 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#33 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 828 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

32% (265)

Fair

56.5% (468)

Poor

11.5% (95)

Montgomery County's Poor-condition bridges carry 922,963 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 9,715 crossings a day against 18,429 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 828 of 828 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.5% of Montgomery County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

441 of the 825 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 32% 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 9.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SCHUYLKILL EXPWAY. over WAVERLY ROAD(T669), built 1951, carries 85,964 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 95-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 922,963 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

27
1900s

15
1910s

22
1920s

38
1930s

88
1940s

18
1950s

119
1960s

67
1970s

95
1980s

64
1990s

67
2000s

78
2010s

94
2020s

33

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 119 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 14.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the Pennsylvania average (1970).

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

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Montgomery County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.5% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1965 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Montgomery County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Montgomery County (this page)	828	32%	56.5%	11.5%	1968
Lancaster County	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 Montgomery 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 Montgomery County, both outside Pennsylvania so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (828 bridges here).

Duval County, FL · 831 bridges
Davidson County, TN · 832 bridges
Middlesex County, MA · 818 bridges
Hillsborough County, FL · 840 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1968 here).

San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges
Humboldt County, CA · avg 1968 · 396 bridges

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

All 828 Good 265 Fair 468 Poor 95

Fair-condition bridges (468)

Sort:

Montgomery County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Montgomery County's Poor-condition bridges carry 922,963 vehicle crossings a day

53.5% of Montgomery County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 9.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Montgomery 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 (468)

LAYFIELD ROAD

Arcola Road

BIG ROAD

SCHUYLKILL EXPWAY.

EASTON ROAD

BETHLEHEM PIKE

CHURCH ROAD

TERWOOD ROAD

GERMANTOWN PIKE

SUMNEYTOWN PIKE

CHURCH ROAD

BLACK ROCK RD

LUDWIG ROAD

OLD GULPH ROAD

ASHBOURNE-ROAD

NEW HOPE ST

MIDDLE CREEK ROAD

PA TPK (I-276)

DRESHER ROAD

WILSON STREET

PA 309 BY-PASS

SCHUYLKILLRIVER RD

TRAFFIC ROUTE 100

TRINITY LANE

TROOPER ROAD

EASTON ROAD

ORVILLA ROAD

DIETZ MILL ROAD

INDIAN CREEK ROAD

WASSER ROAD

PA TPK (I-276)

PA TPK (I-276)

RAMP T(76W TO 476N

Smith Road

STERLING DRIVE

BYBERRY ROAD

CROOKED LANE

RIDGE PIKE

LINE LEXINGTON-RD

VINE STREET

DEEP CREEK ROAD

PA TPK (I-276)

PA TPK (RAMP R)

PA TPK (I-276)

CLEMENS ROAD

MILL ROAD

SCHUYLKILL EWAY WB

MID-COUNTY EXWY.

EASTON ROAD

CONSHOHOCKEN ROAD

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