Total bridges
181
Public highway bridges in Orleans County
County profile · official public datasets
Orleans County, VT
181 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.5% rated Good, 44.8% Fair, 2.8% Poor.
- 181
- Public bridges
- 52.5%
- Good condition
- 2.8%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Orleans 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.
- 8th
- of 14 on Poor share
- 2.8%
- Poor-condition share
- 181
- public highway bridges
- 1971
- 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.
Orleans County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Orleans County ranks #8 of 14 Vermont counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Orleans County, Vermont contains 181 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.5% are rated “Good,” 44.8% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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
52.5%
95 of 181 rated 7-9
Fair condition
44.8%
81 of 181 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2.8%
5 of 181 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#8 of 14
Among Vermont counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 181 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 52.5% (95)
Fair 44.8% (81)
Poor 2.8% (5)
Orleans County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,640 vehicle crossings a day
That is 2.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,328 crossings a day against 916 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 179 of 181 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
58.6% of Orleans County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
106 of the 181 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 52.5% 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 39.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
VT 00100 ML over EAST BRANCH MISSISQUOI, built 1929, carries 2,600 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 6,640 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Orleans County's bridges were built
181 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 5
1910–1919
5 bridges
- 1920s
1920–1929
20 bridges
- 1930s 7
1930–1939
7 bridges
- 1940s 8
1940–1949
8 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
18 bridges
- 1960s 16
1960–1969
16 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
41 bridges
- 1980s 14
1980–1989
14 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
23 bridges
- 2000s 11
2000–2009
11 bridges
- 2010s 15
2010–2019
15 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 41 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1971, 7 years newer than the Vermont average of 1964.
How Orleans County compares with Vermont's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Vermont counties nearest Orleans County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1964 is 7 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 13 Vermont counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Orleans County (this page) | 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 |
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 Orleans 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 Orleans County, both outside Vermont so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside VT (181 bridges here).
- Lamar County, AL · 181 bridges
- Jasper County, IL · 181 bridges
- Malheur County, OR · 181 bridges
- Lancaster County, SC · 181 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside VT (1971 here).
- Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
- Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
- Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
- Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (181)
C3019
GoodOver: STAR BROOK
0.15 MI TO JCT W VT242, Orleans, VT
Built 1977 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 70
I 00091 ML
GoodOver: TH38 & CRLRR & BARTON RV
1.5 MI N EXIT 26, Orleans, VT
Built 1971 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 7,900
C2001
GoodOver: WILLOUGHBY RIVER
0.2 MI S JCT TH 28, Orleans, VT
Built 2012 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 410
C3017
GoodOver: TAFT BROOK
0.01 MI TO JCT W C3 TH18, Orleans, VT
Built 1999 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 20
VT 00105 ML
GoodOver: CLYDE RIVER
3.9 MI W JCT. VT.114 S, Orleans, VT
Built 1995 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 1,100
C2003 BYPASS
GoodOver: JOHNS RIVER
0.02 MI TO JCT W CL2 TH4, Orleans, VT
Built 1989 Load: 51.7 t ADT: 728
C2004
GoodOver: BLACK RIVER
0.15 MI TO JCT W C3 TH32, Orleans, VT
Built 1981 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 160
C2006
GoodOver: JOHNS RIVER
0.4 MI TO JCT W TH17, Orleans, VT
Built 2021 Load: 52.6 t
C3031
GoodOver: CLYDE RIVER
0.1 MI TO JCT W VT105, Orleans, VT
Built 1975 Load: 53.5 t ADT: 50
C3005
GoodOver: MUD CREEK
0.9 MI TO JCT W CL3 TH8, Orleans, VT
Built 1982 Load: 55.3 t ADT: 60
VT 00105 ML
GoodOver: MUD CREEK
3.2 MI W JCT. VT.100, Orleans, VT
Built 1961 Load: 55.3 t ADT: 2,000
C2003
GoodOver: BLACK RIVER
@ JCT W CL3 TH26, Orleans, VT
Built 1947 Load: 59.9 t ADT: 170
TR 00TH3
GoodOver: TH NO 3 OVER I 91
4.2 MI N EXIT 26, Orleans, VT
Built 1971 Load: 61.7 t ADT: 75
TR 00TH3
GoodOver: TH NO 3 OVER I 91
4.2 MI N EXIT 26, Orleans, VT
Built 1971 Load: 61.7 t ADT: 75
C2002
GoodOver: EAST BRANCH
0.05 MI TO JCT W VT100, Orleans, VT
Built 1998 Load: 62.6 t ADT: 250
C3017
GoodOver: HALLS CREEK
1.2 MI TO JCT W TH6, Orleans, VT
Built 2019 Load: 63.5 t
C3013
GoodOver: HOLLAND BROOK
JCT W/ TH19 AND TH13, Orleans, VT
Built 1995 Load: 65.3 t ADT: 40
C3012
GoodOver: MISSISQUOI RIVER
0.1 MI TO JCT W CL3 TH4, Orleans, VT
Built 1999 Load: 65.3 t ADT: 10
C3022
GoodOver: MISSISQUOI RIVER
0.8 MI TO JCT W VT100, Orleans, VT
Built 1990 Load: 66.2 t ADT: 274
I 00091 ML
GoodOver: I 91 OVER TH NO 6
1.8 MI S EXIT 26, Orleans, VT
Built 1971 Load: 67.1 t ADT: 6,200
I 00091 ML
GoodOver: I 91 OVER TH NO 6
1.8 MI S EXIT 26, Orleans, VT
Built 1971 Load: 67.1 t ADT: 6,200
C3055
GoodOver: WILLOUGHBY BROOK
0.20 MI EAST JCT. US5, Orleans, VT
Built 1996 Load: 68.0 t ADT: 10
C3015
GoodOver: EAST BRANCH
0.1 MI WEST OF JCT TH54, Orleans, VT
Built 1998 Load: 72.6 t ADT: 54
C3035
GoodOver: BLACK RIVER
0.06 MI TO JCT W CL2 TH4, Orleans, VT
Built 1922 Load: 73.5 t ADT: 50
C3021
GoodOver: E. BR. MISSISQUOI RIVER
0.015 MI TO JCT W VT100, Orleans, VT
Built 1999 Load: 77.1 t ADT: 10
C3026
GoodOver: BARTON RIVER
0.06 MI E OF JCT VT16, Orleans, VT
Built 1997 Load: 78.9 t ADT: 40
TR 01 FAS 308
PoorOver: BURGESS BROOK
0.9 MI W JCT. VT.100, Orleans, VT
Built 1923 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 590
C3055
PoorOver: BLACK RIVER
0.03 MI TO JCT W CL2 TH4, Orleans, VT
Built 1925 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 50
VT 00100 ML
PoorOver: EAST BRANCH MISSISQUOI
1.5 MI S JCT. VT.58, Orleans, VT
Built 1929 Load: 20.9 t ADT: 2,600
VT 00100 ML
PoorOver: TAFT BROOK
4.5 MI N JCT. VT.58, Orleans, VT
Built 1973 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,700
VT 00014 ML
PoorOver: BLACK RIVER
0.7 MI S JCT. U.S.5 S, Orleans, VT
Built 2001 Load: 44.5 t ADT: 1,700
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.