County profile · official public datasets

Venango County, PA

189 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.4% rated Good, 49.7% Fair, 14.8% Poor.

189
Public bridges: 35.4%
Good condition: 14.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

48th
of 67 on Poor share: 14.8%
Poor-condition share: 189
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.

Venango County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Venango County ranks #48 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 14.8%). Venango County, Pennsylvania contains 189 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.4% are rated “Good,” 49.7% “Fair,” and 14.8% “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

189

Public highway bridges in Venango County

Good condition

35.4%

67 of 189 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.7%

94 of 189 rated 5-6

Poor condition

14.8%

28 of 189 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#48 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 189 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35.4% (67)

Fair

49.7% (94)

Poor

14.8% (28)

Venango County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,916 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 14.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 568 crossings a day against 1,310 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 189 of 189 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49.7% of Venango County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

94 of the 189 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 35.4% 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 50.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 62 FRNKN-OIL CT over OVER UPPER TWO MILE RUN, built 1956, carries 7,968 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 28-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 15,916 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

7
1900s

11
1910s

4
1920s

7
1930s

13
1940s

10
1950s

14
1960s

27
1970s

11
1980s

14
1990s

30
2000s

16
2010s

23
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 30 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the Pennsylvania average (1970).

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

The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Venango County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 14.8% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 5 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Venango County and the 5 Pennsylvania counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Potter County	207	44.9%	42%	13%	1979
Jefferson County	202	29.2%	63.9%	6.9%	1972
Mifflin County	196	41.8%	45.4%	12.8%	1974
Venango County (this page)	189	35.4%	49.7%	14.8%	1968
Perry County	183	32.2%	53.6%	14.2%	1965
Clarion County	172	27.9%	64%	8.1%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PA (189 bridges here).

Butler County, AL · 189 bridges
Chilton County, AL · 189 bridges
Jasper County, IN · 189 bridges
Chase County, KS · 189 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 189 Good 67 Fair 94 Poor 28

Good-condition bridges (67)

Sort:

Venango County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Venango County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,916 vehicle crossings a day

49.7% of Venango County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 50.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Venango 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 (67)

SR 3007 ROCKDALE

SR 3101 PORTER RD

SR 4018 ACADEMY ST

SR 322 28th Div Hw

Lake/Sea SR 322

SR 8 R.C.FRAME HWY

SR 8 R C FRAME HWY

SR 38 EMLENTON ST

CHERRYTREE ROAD

Martin Road

PITHOLE ROAD

SR 8 MCCLINTOCK BR

SR 38

SR 3005

GADSBY ROAD

SR 62 RIVERSIDE DR

PA 427 MAIN STR.

SR 3015

SR 2013 ROCKLAND

SR 0008

SR 62 MAIN STREET.

T-572 BANKSON RD

SR 36 COL.DRAKE HY

SR 4007 Sugar Lk R

SR 3025 DEEP HOLLW

SR 965

T-346 RAINBOW ROAD

SR 428 Dempseytown

T-522 DOTTERER RD

SR 3007 O LISBON

Buttermilk Hill Rd

SR 8

SR 427

SR 62 OIL CITY RD.

SR 227 CHERRY RUN

FACTORY STREET

SR 227 CHERRY RUN

SR 3013 PECAN HILL

SR 428 Dempseytown

SR 322 VAN BRIDGE

SR 3017 UTICA BRG.

RCKLAND CRNBERY RD

SR 8 NEW ROUTE 8

WHIPPOORWILL ROAD

Bradleytown Rd

PUMP STATION RD

SR 227

SR 3008 KENNERDELL

SR 3010

T-552 GEIRING ROAD

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