Total bridges
66
Public highway bridges in Essex County
County profile · official public datasets
Essex County, VT
66 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 57.6% rated Good, 39.4% Fair, 3% Poor.
- 66
- Public bridges
- 57.6%
- Good condition
- 3%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Essex County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.
- 10th
- of 14 on Poor share
- 3%
- Poor-condition share
- 66
- 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.
Essex County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Essex County ranks #10 of 14 Vermont counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3%). Essex County, Vermont contains 66 public highway bridges. Roughly 57.6% are rated “Good,” 39.4% “Fair,” and 3% “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.
Good condition
57.6%
38 of 66 rated 7-9
Fair condition
39.4%
26 of 66 rated 5-6
Poor condition
3%
2 of 66 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#10 of 14
Among Vermont counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 66 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 57.6% (38)
Fair 39.4% (26)
Poor 3% (2)
Essex County's Poor-condition bridges carry 690 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 345 crossings a day against 678 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 66 of 66 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
56.1% of Essex County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
37 of the 66 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 57.6% 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 68.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
VT 00102 ML over NULHEGAN RIVER, built 1937, carries 470 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 690 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Essex County's bridges were built
66 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 1
Built before 1900
1 bridges
- 1910s
1910–1919
5 bridges
- 1920s
1920–1929
5 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
8 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
4 bridges
- 1950s 3
1950–1959
3 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
6 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
9 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
10 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
4 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
5 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
5 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 10 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1965) matches the Vermont average (1964).
How Essex County compares with Vermont's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Vermont counties nearest Essex County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 against a peer-group mean of 1968 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 13 Vermont counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orleans County | 181 | 52.5% | 44.8% | 2.8% | 1971 |
| Franklin County | 149 | 56.4% | 43.6% | 0% | 1963 |
| Addison County | 143 | 51.7% | 45.5% | 2.8% | 1965 |
| Lamoille County | 127 | 54.3% | 41.7% | 3.9% | 1964 |
| Essex County (this page) | 66 | 57.6% | 39.4% | 3% | 1965 |
| Grand Isle County | 8 | 62.5% | 37.5% | 0% | 1979 |
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 Essex 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 Essex County, both outside Vermont so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside VT (66 bridges here).
- Chugach County, AK · 66 bridges
- Inyo County, CA · 66 bridges
- Broomfield County, CO · 66 bridges
- Cook County, GA · 66 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.
Fair-condition bridges (26)
COLUMBIA BRIDGE RD
FairOver: CONNECTICUT RIVER
VERMONT STATE LINE, Essex, VT
Built 1912 Load: 6.5 t ADT: 227
MT ORNE ROAD
FairOver: CONNECTICUT RIVER
AT VERMONT STATE LINE, Essex, VT
Built 1911 Load: 6.5 t ADT: 658
C2001
FairOver: E. BR. PASSUMPSIC RIVER
0.1 MI JCT TH 1 + VT 114, Essex, VT
Built 1915 Load: 8.2 t ADT: 100
C3004
FairOver: E. BR. PASSUMPSIC RIVER
0.1 MI JCT TH 4 + VT 114, Essex, VT
Built 1960 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 30
C3031
FairOver: SCALES BROOK
0.37 MI E OREGON ROAD, Essex, VT
Built 2007 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 10
C2002
FairOver: MOOSE RIVER
0.05 MI JCT TH 2 + TH 1, Essex, VT
Built 1940 Load: 10.9 t ADT: 100
C4012
FairOver: COATICOOK RIVER
0.4 MI TO JCT W VT114, Essex, VT
Built 1978 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 2
C3004
FairOver: CUTLER MILL BROOK
0.5 MI JCT TH 4 + TH 5, Essex, VT
Built 1968 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 50
US 00002 ML
FairOver: KIRBY BROOK
6.3 MI E JCT VT.18, Essex, VT
Built 1942 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 2,700
TR 01 FAS 277
FairOver: MOOSE RIVER
1.2 MI N JCT U.S.2, Essex, VT
Built 1933 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 450
C2003
FairOver: MOOSE RIVER
0.07 MI TO JCT W US2, Essex, VT
Built 1930 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 500
C2001
FairOver: COATICOOK RIVER
0.01 MI TO JCT W CL3 TH9, Essex, VT
Built 1928 Load: 20.9 t ADT: 200
VT 00114 ML
FairOver: PHERRINS RIVER
1.2 MI N JCT. VT.105 E, Essex, VT
Built 1926 Load: 20.9 t ADT: 1,000
C3058
FairOver: MILES STREAM
0.1 MI JCT TH 58 + TH 4, Essex, VT
Built 1971 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 50
C2001
FairOver: HALLS STREAM
0.15 MI TO JCT W VT25, Essex, VT
Built 1931 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 240
NH 26
FairOver: CONNECTICUT RIVER
VERMONT STATE LINE, Essex, VT
Built 1953 Load: 29.8 t ADT: 896
C3006
FairOver: MOOSE RIVER
0.1 MI TO JCT W US2, Essex, VT
Built 1930 Load: 31.8 t ADT: 400
C3015
FairOver: CLYDE RIVER
0.02 MI TO JCT W VT105, Essex, VT
Built 1972 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 50
C3011
FairOver: MILES STREAM
0.7 MI S JCT TH 4, Essex, VT
Built 1980 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 30
VT105 BRIDGE ST
FairOver: CONNECTICUT RIVER
VERMONT STATE LINE, Essex, VT
Built 1947 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 981
VT 00105 ML
FairOver: NULHEGAN RIVER
7.6 MI W JCT. VT.102, Essex, VT
Built 1979 Load: 41.7 t ADT: 700
TR 01 FAS 218
FairOver: MINK BROOK
2.7 MI S JCT. U.S.2, Essex, VT
Built 1926 Load: 44.5 t ADT: 660
GUILDHALL ROAD
FairOver: CONNECTICUT RIVER
VERMONT STATE LINE, Essex, VT
Built 1984 Load: 45.3 t ADT: 888
C3005
FairOver: STLAWRENCE ATLANTIC RR
0.07 MI TO JCT W VT105, Essex, VT
Built 1914 Load: 51.7 t ADT: 30
VT 00105 ML
FairOver: EAST BR NULHEGAN RIVER
2.4 MI W JCT. VT.102, Essex, VT
Built 1969 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 700
VT 00102 ML
FairOver: LEACH CREEK
0.4 MI S JCT. VT.114, Essex, VT
Built 1971 Load: 59.9 t ADT: 660
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
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.