County profile · official public datasets

Ponce County, PR

123 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 18.7% rated Good, 65.9% Fair, 15.4% Poor.

123
Public bridges: 18.7%
Good condition: 15.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

42nd
of 74 on Poor share: 15.4%
Poor-condition share: 123
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Ponce County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ponce County ranks #42 of 74 Puerto Rico counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.4%). Ponce County, Puerto Rico contains 123 public highway bridges. Roughly 18.7% are rated “Good,” 65.9% “Fair,” and 15.4% “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

123

Public highway bridges in Ponce County

Good condition

18.7%

23 of 123 rated 7-9

Fair condition

65.9%

81 of 123 rated 5-6

Poor condition

15.4%

19 of 123 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#42 of 74

Among Puerto Rico counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 123 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

18.7% (23)

Fair

65.9% (81)

Poor

15.4% (19)

Ponce County's Poor-condition bridges carry 309,150 vehicle crossings a day

That is 15.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 16,271 crossings a day against 14,647 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 122 of 123 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

30.1% of Ponce County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

37 of the 123 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 18.7% 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 16.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

PR 52 over DIRT ROAD, built 1995, carries 50,800 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 309,150 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

3
1920s

1
1930s

1
1940s

5
1950s

2
1960s

12
1970s

17
1980s

10
1990s

40
2000s

16
2010s

12
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 32.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1984, 10 years newer than the Puerto Rico average of 1974.

How Ponce County compares with Puerto Rico's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Puerto Rico counties nearest Ponce County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 9 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 73 Puerto Rico counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ponce County and the 5 Puerto Rico counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Ponce County (this page)	123	18.7%	65.9%	15.4%	1984
Caguas County	92	10.9%	78.3%	10.9%	1965
Cayey County	81	6.2%	82.7%	11.1%	1967
Bayamón County	78	14.1%	75.6%	10.3%	1977
Carolina County	73	28.8%	60.3%	11%	1983
Humacao County	69	26.1%	60.9%	13%	1985

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 Ponce 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 Ponce County, both outside Puerto Rico so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PR (123 bridges here).

Jackson County, GA · 123 bridges
Crawford County, IN · 123 bridges
Hickman County, KY · 123 bridges
Bladen County, NC · 123 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PR (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 123 Good 23 Fair 81 Poor 19

All bridges (123)

Sort:

Ponce County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ponce County's Poor-condition bridges carry 309,150 vehicle crossings a day

30.1% of Ponce County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 16.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ponce County compares with Puerto Rico'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 (123)

RAMP PR 9 E PR 123

PR 52 NORTHBOUND

PR 52 SOUTHBOUND

PR 14 MALECON AVE.

PR 501

PR 10

PR 10

PR 52 WESTBOUND

LA COROSA STREET

PR 52 SOUTHBOUND

PR 52 NORTHBOUND

PR 52 SOUTHBOUND

PR 52 SOUTHBOUND

PR 14 MALECON AVE.

PR 9

PR 14

PR 10

PR 504

PR 132

PR 52 SOUTHBOUND

PUERTO VIEJO ST.

PR 2

PR 14

PR-9

PR 52

PR 52 EASTBOUND

PR 52

Contreras Ave.

PR 10

PR 10

PR 10 AT KM 4.55

RAMP PR10 TO PR14

PR 139

PR 506

CAMPOS STREET

PR-511 Km. 11.7

OFF PR 506 KM 1.9

OFF PR 506 @ 0.95

PR 511

BARAMAYA STREET

PR 2

RAMP PR 9 W PR 123

GUADALUPE ST.

OFF PR 5139 AT 2.1

PR 52

PR 2

SERRALLES STREET

PR-2

PR 2

PR 12

Related