County profile · official public datasets

Sullivan County, PA

119 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.7% rated Good, 47.1% Fair, 9.2% Poor.

119
Public bridges: 43.7%
Good condition: 9.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 31%
lowest Poor share in state: 9.2%
Poor-condition share: 119
public highway bridges: 1967
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.

Sullivan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sullivan County ranks #21 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.2%). Sullivan County, Pennsylvania contains 119 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.7% are rated “Good,” 47.1% “Fair,” and 9.2% “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

119

Public highway bridges in Sullivan County

Good condition

43.7%

52 of 119 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.1%

56 of 119 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.2%

11 of 119 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#21 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 119 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43.7% (52)

Fair

47.1% (56)

Poor

9.2% (11)

Sullivan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,019 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 184 crossings a day against 338 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 119 of 119 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.8% of Sullivan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

64 of the 119 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 43.7% 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 66.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 487 over OVER BIRCH CREEK, built 1900, carries 1,349 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,019 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1900s

5
1920s

9
1930s

19
1940s

7
1950s

12
1960s

6
1970s

11
1980s

8
1990s

9
2000s

11
2010s

17
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 19 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1967) matches the Pennsylvania average (1970).

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

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Sullivan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sullivan County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pike County	158	35.4%	38.6%	25.9%	1971
Wyoming County	140	42.1%	35%	22.9%	1973
Carbon County	134	20.9%	60.4%	18.7%	1960
Elk County	127	39.4%	49.6%	11%	1973
Sullivan County (this page)	119	43.7%	47.1%	9.2%	1967
Montour County	108	50%	44.4%	5.6%	1968

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (119 bridges here).

Carroll County, AR · 119 bridges
Grant County, AR · 119 bridges
Stafford County, KS · 119 bridges
Grayson County, KY · 119 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1967 here).

Los Angeles County, CA · avg 1967 · 3,547 bridges
Sonoma County, CA · avg 1967 · 609 bridges
Merced County, CA · avg 1967 · 528 bridges
Shasta County, CA · avg 1967 · 492 bridges

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

All 119 Good 52 Fair 56 Poor 11

Good-condition bridges (52)

Sort:

Sullivan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sullivan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,019 vehicle crossings a day

53.8% of Sullivan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 66.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sullivan 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

Good-condition bridges (52)

SR 154

SR 87

T-389

CHERRY TWP T-405

SR 4016

BIG HOLLOW ROAD

SR 87

US 220

T-408

SHREWSBRY TWP T309

SR 4002

SR 0154 SH

PA 154

SR 154

ELKLAND TWP T-424

T-357 #3

SR 2002

S.R.0154(TR-154)

T-408 FOX TWP

SR 3003

SR 487

BIG HOLLOW ROAD

BRUNNERDALE ROAD

SR 87

SR 0087 SH

SR 4007

UPPER CAMELS ROAD

S.R. 2002

BRUNNERDALE ROAD

CHERRY TWP T-380

CENTER STREET

SR 154

SR 1012

SHANERBURG ROAD

SR 0087

MILL CREEK ROAD

SR 87

S.R. 2006

SR 3005

SR 1004

SR 4018

SR 87

SR 2002

SR 2002

SR 87

T-310 COUNTY BR. 6

DRY RUN ROAD

SR 1006

SR 2003

SR 2002

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