County profile · official public datasets

Schuylkill County, PA

368 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 20.4% rated Good, 53% Fair, 26.6% Poor.

368
Public bridges: 20.4%
Good condition: 26.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Schuylkill County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

66th
of 67 on Poor share: 26.6%
Poor-condition share: 368
public highway bridges: 1961
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.

Schuylkill County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Schuylkill County ranks #66 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 26.6%). Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania contains 368 public highway bridges. Roughly 20.4% are rated “Good,” 53% “Fair,” and 26.6% “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

368

Public highway bridges in Schuylkill County

Good condition

20.4%

75 of 368 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53%

195 of 368 rated 5-6

Poor condition

26.6%

98 of 368 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#66 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 368 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

20.4% (75)

Fair

53% (195)

Poor

26.6% (98)

Schuylkill County's Poor-condition bridges carry 85,897 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 26.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 895 crossings a day against 4,177 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 366 of 368 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

71.7% of Schuylkill County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

264 of the 368 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 20.4% 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 15.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

LR417 PA183 over SCHUYLKILL RIVER, built 1951, carries 13,299 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 98-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 85,897 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

5
1900s

4
1910s

8
1920s

45
1930s

54
1940s

21
1950s

26
1960s

82
1970s

31
1980s

16
1990s

19
2000s

12
2010s

38
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 82 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1961, 9 years older than the Pennsylvania average of 1970.

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

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Schuylkill County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 26.6% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1961 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 12 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Schuylkill County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Lehigh County	381	29.4%	59.3%	11.3%	1966
Butler County	378	29.9%	55.8%	14.3%	1975
Schuylkill County (this page)	368	20.4%	53%	26.6%	1961
Centre County	367	48%	46%	6%	1982
Lackawanna County	363	36.6%	45.7%	17.6%	1972
Northampton County	356	31.2%	59.6%	9.3%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (368 bridges here).

Sullivan County, TN · 368 bridges
Saline County, KS · 369 bridges
Suffolk County, NY · 369 bridges
Cass County, ND · 369 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1961 here).

Westchester County, NY · avg 1961 · 774 bridges
Tehama County, CA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
Berkshire County, MA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
Columbiana County, OH · avg 1961 · 321 bridges

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

All 368 Good 75 Fair 195 Poor 98

All bridges (368)

Sort:

Schuylkill County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Schuylkill County's Poor-condition bridges carry 85,897 vehicle crossings a day

71.7% of Schuylkill County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 15.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Schuylkill 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

All bridges (368)

PA 61 (LR 141)

MAHANTONGO ST

SPIECE ROAD

FORESTRY ACCESS RD

PA 443/895-LR53012

Mt Eagle Trail Rd

PA 443(LR 140)

I-81 NB (LR 1005)

I-81 SB (LR 1005)

SR 2003 (LR 53015)

TANNENBAUM RD

T448 MAHANTONGO MT

PA645

PA 895 (LR466)

SR 8017 (RAMP M)

PA 309 (LR 226)

Little Mountain Rd

WILD TURKEY LN

NEWSWANGER RD

I-81 SB (LR 1005)

Goldstar Highway

LAWTON ST

SR 1006 (LR 53073)

SR 4022 (LR 53057)

PA 924 (LR161)

RIDGE ROAD

PA 309 (LR 226)

PA 61 (LR 141)

SR 4011 (LR 53027)

I-81SB (LR1005)

I-81NB

Catawissa Creek Rd

RED RIDGE ROAD

PA 125

OAK GROVE ROAD

PA 61 (LR 140)

SR1013 (LR 53036)

PA 309(LR 226)

SR 1002

WEISHAMPLE RD.

BRICKEY ST.

MILL STREET

T-410 SPITTLER RD.

PA 901 (LR 53008)

GROVE DRIVE

I-81SB (LR 1005)

T-383 WOODS RD.

SR 3005(LR 53079)

WOODLAND DR.

Catawissa Creek Rd

Related