Total bridges
454
Public highway bridges in Somerset County
County profile · official public datasets
Somerset County, PA
454 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33% rated Good, 52.6% Fair, 14.3% Poor.
- 454
- Public bridges
- 33%
- Good condition
- 14.3%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Somerset County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 47th
- of 67 on Poor share
- 14.3%
- Poor-condition share
- 454
- public highway bridges
- 1969
- 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.
Somerset County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Somerset County ranks #47 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 14.3%). Somerset County, Pennsylvania contains 454 public highway bridges. Roughly 33% are rated “Good,” 52.6% “Fair,” and 14.3% “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
33%
150 of 454 rated 7-9
Fair condition
52.6%
239 of 454 rated 5-6
Poor condition
14.3%
65 of 454 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#47 of 67
Among Pennsylvania counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 454 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 33% (150)
Fair 52.6% (239)
Poor 14.3% (65)
Somerset County's Poor-condition bridges carry 28,299 vehicle crossings a day
That is 2.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 14.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 442 crossings a day against 2,704 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 453 of 454 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
56.6% of Somerset County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
257 of the 454 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 33% 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 22.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 219 SBL over T685 MILLER ROAD, built 1969, carries 6,344 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 65-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 28,299 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Somerset County's bridges were built
454 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 7
Built before 1900
7 bridges
- 1900s 19
1900–1909
19 bridges
- 1910s 24
1910–1919
24 bridges
- 1920s 21
1920–1929
21 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
59 bridges
- 1940s 19
1940–1949
19 bridges
- 1950s 28
1950–1959
28 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
59 bridges
- 1970s 24
1970–1979
24 bridges
- 1980s 21
1980–1989
21 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
42 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
42 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
80 bridges
- 2020s 9
2020–2029
9 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 80 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1969) matches the Pennsylvania average (1970).
How Somerset County compares with Pennsylvania's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Somerset County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 14.3% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 5 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 66 Pennsylvania counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luzerne County | 457 | 28.9% | 45.5% | 25.6% | 1972 |
| Somerset County (this page) | 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 |
| Tioga County | 429 | 49.4% | 47.3% | 3.3% | 1977 |
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 Somerset 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 Somerset County, both outside Pennsylvania so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside PA (454 bridges here).
- Hamilton County, IN · 454 bridges
- Forsyth County, NC · 454 bridges
- Woodbury County, IA · 455 bridges
- Hunt County, TX · 456 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1969 here).
- Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
- Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
- Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
- Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (65)
SR 4029
PoorOver: NORTH FORK BENS CREEK
1 MILE W. SULPHUR SPRINGS, Somerset, PA
Built 1927 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 100
LAKE LOOP ROAD
PoorOver: KOOSER RUN
600 FT SW OF SR 31, Somerset, PA
Built 1933 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 100
T-586 BREHM ROAD
PoorOver: BENS CREEK
1.5 MI.SW.OF THOMAS MILLS, Somerset, PA
Built 1895 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 50
T-361 GAMELAND RD
PoorOver: WILLS CREEK
1 MI.S.OF MANCE, Somerset, PA
Built 1986 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 51
T524 SECHLAR ROAD
PoorOver: US 219
1.6 MILE NORTH OF TR 281, Somerset, PA
Built 1972 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 1,094
PA TURNPIKE RP I76
PoorOver: TRIB.COXES CREEK;B-348
SOMERSET INTERCHANGE, Somerset, PA
Built 1939 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 5,660
T338 FALL RUN ROAD
PoorOver: FALL CREEK
4 MI.NW.OF NEW LEXINGTON, Somerset, PA
Built 1912 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 75
24TH STREET
PoorOver: SEESE RUN
WINDBER 24TH STREET, Somerset, PA
Built 1900 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 300
SR 3007
PoorOver: RED RUN
3 MI.N.OF URSINA, Somerset, PA
Built 1937 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 268
T810 CLUB ROAD
PoorOver: RAYSTOWN BR.JUNIATA RIV.
NEW BALTIMORE, Somerset, PA
Built 1930 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 50
SR 3039(LOBSTOR)
PoorOver: ALLEN CREEK
W. OF TRENT(LOBSTOR), Somerset, PA
Built 1936 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 88
SR 3003
PoorOver: DRAKE RUN
DRAKETOWN, Somerset, PA
Built 1908 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 235
SR 3010
PoorOver: MIDDLE CREEK
2 MI.S.OF LAVANSVILLE, Somerset, PA
Built 1926 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 183
SR 4041
PoorOver: TRIB.STONY CREEK
.5 MI.W.OF TIREHILL, Somerset, PA
Built 1930 Load: 55.3 t ADT: 815
T-433 Hillside Dr
PoorOver: Bens Creek
1.5mi North of Thomas Mil, Somerset, PA
Built 1950 Load: 64.4 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.