County profile · official public datasets

Caledonia County, VT

247 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 53% rated Good, 45.3% Fair, 1.6% Poor.

247
Public bridges: 53%
Good condition: 1.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 29%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.6%
Poor-condition share: 247
public highway bridges: 1965
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.

Caledonia County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Caledonia County ranks #4 of 14 Vermont counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.6%). Caledonia County, Vermont contains 247 public highway bridges. Roughly 53% are rated “Good,” 45.3% “Fair,” and 1.6% “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

247

Public highway bridges in Caledonia County

Good condition

53%

131 of 247 rated 7-9

Fair condition

45.3%

112 of 247 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.6%

4 of 247 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#4 of 14

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

Condition distribution

Share of 247 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

53% (131)

Fair

45.3% (112)

Poor

1.6% (4)

Caledonia County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,145 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 536 crossings a day against 3,266 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 246 of 247 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

51% of Caledonia County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

126 of the 247 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 53% 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 52% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NH 18 over CONNECTICUT RIVER, built 1934, carries 1,115 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,145 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1900s

1
1910s

11
1920s

36
1930s

17
1940s

13
1950s

13
1960s

11
1970s

73
1980s

32
1990s

7
2000s

14
2010s

15
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 73 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1965) matches the Vermont average (1964).

How Caledonia County compares with Vermont's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Vermont counties nearest Caledonia County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.6% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 against a peer-group mean of 1964 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 13 Vermont counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Caledonia County and the 5 Vermont counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Rutland County	266	51.5%	45.9%	2.6%	1967
Washington County	248	49.6%	46.8%	3.6%	1961
Caledonia County (this page)	247	53%	45.3%	1.6%	1965
Bennington County	215	57.2%	41.9%	0.9%	1964
Orange County	208	50.5%	47.6%	1.9%	1959
Chittenden County	184	54.9%	42.9%	2.2%	1967

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VT (247 bridges here).

Houston County, AL · 247 bridges
Madera County, CA · 247 bridges
Shelby County, IN · 247 bridges
Chickasaw County, MS · 247 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VT (1965 here).

Bedford County, PA · avg 1965 · 417 bridges
Crawford County, PA · avg 1965 · 399 bridges
Harper County, KS · avg 1965 · 372 bridges
Columbia County, PA · avg 1965 · 271 bridges

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

All 247 Good 131 Fair 112 Poor 4

All bridges (247)

Sort:

Caledonia County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Caledonia County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,145 vehicle crossings a day

51% of Caledonia County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 52% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Caledonia County compares with Vermont'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 (247)

C3053

C3058

C3054

C3060

C3048

C3050

C3099

C3030

C3061

C3057

C2001

C3012

C3018

C3021

C2005

C3008

C2002

C3005

TR 02 FAS 220

TR 03 FAS 261

TR 01 FAS 216

C3056

C3058

C2002

C3062

C3056

C2002

TR 06 FAS 263

TR 01 FAS 216

MCINDOES STREET

C3065

C3024

C3036

TR 06 FAS 267

C2010

C3029

C3045

C3038

US 00005 ML

CITY CONCD

C2006

C2001

C2002

CITY CONCD

C3038

US 00005 ML

CITY LPRTS

C3011

C3013

C3040

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