Total bridges
655
Public highway bridges in Washington County
County profile · official public datasets
655 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.3% rated Good, 49.6% Fair, 12.1% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Washington County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.
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.
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Washington County ranks #36 of 67 Pennsylvania counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.1%). Washington County, Pennsylvania contains 655 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.3% are rated “Good,” 49.6% “Fair,” and 12.1% “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
655
Public highway bridges in Washington County
Good condition
38.3%
251 of 655 rated 7-9
Fair condition
49.6%
325 of 655 rated 5-6
Poor condition
12.1%
79 of 655 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#36 of 67
Among Pennsylvania counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 655 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 2.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,251 crossings a day against 5,496 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 655 of 655 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
356 of the 655 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 38.3% 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.
SR 0022 over RACCOON CREEK, built 1970, carries 19,995 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 79-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 98,832 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
655 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
Built before 1900
19 bridges
1900–1909
19 bridges
1910–1919
25 bridges
1920–1929
25 bridges
1930–1939
42 bridges
1940–1949
51 bridges
1950–1959
38 bridges
1960–1969
119 bridges
1970–1979
26 bridges
1980–1989
36 bridges
1990–1999
59 bridges
2000–2009
73 bridges
2010–2019
109 bridges
2020–2029
14 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 119 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1971) matches the Pennsylvania average (1970).
The 5 Pennsylvania counties nearest Washington County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.1% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1963 is 8 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 66 Pennsylvania counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 (this page) | 655 | 38.3% | 49.6% | 12.1% | 1971 |
| Westmoreland County | 620 | 36.5% | 47.7% | 15.8% | 1975 |
| Philadelphia County | 585 | 22.7% | 64.1% | 13.2% | 1956 |
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 Washington County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Washington County, both outside Pennsylvania so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside PA (655 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside PA (1971 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: BRANCH OF CHARTIERS CRK
EAST OF CANNONSBURG, Washington, PA
Over: BRANCH OF DANIEL RUN
WEST BETHLEHEM TOWNSHIP, Washington, PA
Over: MAPLE CREEK
NEAR TWILIGHT BORO, Washington, PA
Over: HARMON CREEK
GOODWILL HUNT CLUB RD, Washington, PA
Over: BRUSH RUN CREEK
THOMPSONVILLE ARCH, Washington, PA
Over: WHEELING & LAKE ERIE RR
800 NORTH OF SR 2027, Washington, PA
Over: Burgetts Fork
500 W of SR 0018, Washington, PA
Over: BUFFALO CREEK
EAST FINLEY TOWNSHIP, Washington, PA
Over: ROBINSON FORK
WEST FINLEY TOWNSHIP, Washington, PA
Over: BULGER RUN
SMITH TOWNSHIP, Washington, PA
Over: CHARTIERS CREEK
NE OF CANONSBURG, Washington, PA
Over: BARRS RUN
WEST BETHLEHEM TOWNSHIP, Washington, PA
Over: BRANCH OF BURGETTS FORK
BURGETTSTOWN BOROUGH, Washington, PA
Over: SR 1024 (THIRD STREET)
THOMPSON AVENUE BRIDGE, Washington, PA
Over: NORTH BR. PIGEON CREEK
SOMERSET TOWNSHIP, Washington, PA
Over: MINGO CREEK
NOTTINGHAM TOWNSHIP, Washington, PA
Over: PIKE RUN
WEST PIKE RUN TOWNSHIP, Washington, PA
Over: CHARTIERS CREEK
SOUTH OF COUNTY AIRPORT, Washington, PA
Over: PETERS CREEK
NOTTINGHAM & PETERS TWPS., Washington, PA
Over: Dutch Fork
Donegal TWP, Washington, PA
Over: CATFISH CREEK
CITY OF WASHINGTON, Washington, PA
Over: BUFFALO CREEK
BLAINE TOWNSHIP, Washington, PA
Over: NORTH BRANCH FISHPOT RUN
EAST BETHLEHEM TOWNSHIP, Washington, PA
Over: LITTLE PIKE RUN
WEST PIKE RUN TOWNSHIP, Washington, PA
Over: S. BRANCH OF MAPLE CREEK
MAPLE CREEK NUMBER 7, Washington, PA
Over: TENMILE CREEK
SOUTH FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, Washington, PA
Over: PIKE RUN
CALIFORNIA BOROUGH, Washington, PA
Over: RACCOON CREEK
SMITH TOWNSHIP, Washington, PA
Over: MINGO RUN
NEW EAGLE BOROUGH, Washington, PA
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
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.