County profile · official public datasets

Franklin County, VT

149 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.4% rated Good, 43.6% Fair, 0% Poor.

149
Public bridges: 56.4%
Good condition: 0%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Franklin County posts a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 7%
lowest Poor share in state: 0%
Poor-condition share: 149
public highway bridges: 1963
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.

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Franklin County ranks #1 of 14 Vermont counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Franklin County, Vermont contains 149 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.4% are rated “Good,” 43.6% “Fair,” and 0% “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

149

Public highway bridges in Franklin County

Good condition

56.4%

84 of 149 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.6%

65 of 149 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0 of 149 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#1 of 14

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

Condition distribution

Share of 149 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

56.4% (84)

Fair

43.6% (65)

Poor

0% (0)

64.4% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

96 of the 149 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 56.4% 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.

pre-1900

8
1900s

2
1910s

7
1920s

6
1930s

10
1940s

7
1950s

17
1960s

36
1970s

8
1980s

17
1990s

9
2000s

8
2010s

9
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 36 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1963) matches the Vermont average (1964).

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

The 5 Vermont counties nearest Franklin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1963 against a peer-group mean of 1965 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Franklin County and the 5 Vermont counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Orange County	208	50.5%	47.6%	1.9%	1959
Chittenden County	184	54.9%	42.9%	2.2%	1967
Orleans County	181	52.5%	44.8%	2.8%	1971
Franklin County (this page)	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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside VT (149 bridges here).

Tallapoosa County, AL · 149 bridges
Drew County, AR · 149 bridges
Madison County, AR · 149 bridges
Walker County, GA · 149 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside VT (1963 here).

Worcester County, MA · avg 1963 · 1,014 bridges
Honolulu County, HI · avg 1963 · 682 bridges
Chester County, PA · avg 1963 · 680 bridges
Essex County, NJ · avg 1963 · 505 bridges

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

All 149 Good 84 Fair 65 Poor 0

Good-condition bridges (84)

Sort:

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

64.4% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

How Franklin 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

Good-condition bridges (84)

C3035

C3049

C3042

C3027

VT 0105A ALT

C2003

C3067

TR 02 FAS 281

VT 00207 ML

C3022

C3050

C3004

VT 00108 ML

VT 00120 ML

C3008

C3033

C2002

C3006

C3008

C3037

C2003

C3014

C3019

C30LE

C2003

C3047

C3034

C3020

US 00007 ML

C2002

C2004

C2001

C2006

C2004

C3034

C3033

I 00089 ML

TR 01 FAS 281

C3030

C3041

TR 03 FAS 302

C3017

C3018

TR 01 FAS 280

C3011

C3010

VT 00118 ML

VT 00118 ML

VT 00104 ML

C2002

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