Total bridges
248
Public highway bridges in Washington County
County profile · official public datasets
Washington County, VT
248 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 49.6% rated Good, 46.8% Fair, 3.6% Poor.
- 248
- Public bridges
- 49.6%
- Good condition
- 3.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Washington County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 11th
- of 14 on Poor share
- 3.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 248
- public highway bridges
- 1961
- 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.
Washington County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Washington County ranks #11 of 14 Vermont counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.6%). Washington County, Vermont contains 248 public highway bridges. Roughly 49.6% are rated “Good,” 46.8% “Fair,” and 3.6% “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.
Good condition
49.6%
123 of 248 rated 7-9
Fair condition
46.8%
116 of 248 rated 5-6
Poor condition
3.6%
9 of 248 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#11 of 14
Among Vermont counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 248 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 49.6% (123)
Fair 46.8% (116)
Poor 3.6% (9)
Washington County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,170 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,352 crossings a day against 5,265 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 248 of 248 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
67.7% of Washington County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
168 of the 248 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 49.6% 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 46% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 00002 ML over LITTLE RIVER, built 1961, carries 5,600 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 12,170 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Washington County's bridges were built
248 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 8
Built before 1900
8 bridges
- 1900s 3
1900–1909
3 bridges
- 1910s
1910–1919
24 bridges
- 1920s
1920–1929
29 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
17 bridges
- 1940s 12
1940–1949
12 bridges
- 1950s 14
1950–1959
14 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
38 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
31 bridges
- 1980s 10
1980–1989
10 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
17 bridges
- 2000s 15
2000–2009
15 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
23 bridges
- 2020s 7
2020–2029
7 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 38 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1961) matches the Vermont average (1964).
How Washington County compares with Vermont's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Vermont counties nearest Washington County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.6% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1961 against a peer-group mean of 1964 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 13 Vermont counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rutland County | 266 | 51.5% | 45.9% | 2.6% | 1967 |
| Washington County (this page) | 248 | 49.6% | 46.8% | 3.6% | 1961 |
| Caledonia County | 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 Washington 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 Washington County, both outside Vermont so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside VT (248 bridges here).
- Crawford County, AR · 248 bridges
- Cherokee County, IA · 248 bridges
- Poweshiek County, IA · 248 bridges
- Lowndes County, MS · 248 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside VT (1961 here).
- Westchester County, NY · avg 1961 · 774 bridges
- Tehama County, CA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
- Berkshire County, MA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
- Schuylkill County, PA · avg 1961 · 368 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (9)
C3093
PoorOver: SUNNY BROOK
0.02 MI TO JCT W VT12, Washington, VT
Built 1919 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 10
C4048
PoorOver: WINOOSKI RIVER
0.1 MI TO JCT W US2, Washington, VT
Built 1919 Load: 11.8 t ADT: 10
C3057
PoorOver: N.E.C.R.R. & DOG RIVER
0.1 MI TO JCT W VT12A, Washington, VT
Built 1908 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 150
C2001
PoorOver: SHEPARD BROOK
1.0 MI TO JCT W CL3 TH9, Washington, VT
Built 1928 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 500
VT 0012A ALT
PoorOver: FLINT BROOK
12.6 MI N JCT. VT.12 S, Washington, VT
Built 1933 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 400
VT 00012 ML
PoorOver: NORTH BRANCH
11.2 MI N JCT. U.S.2, Washington, VT
Built 1936 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,100
VT 00012 ML
PoorOver: DOG RIVER
1.1 MI N JCT. VT.12A S, Washington, VT
Built 1926 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 4,200
C3012
PoorOver: RIDLEY BROOK
0.5 MI TO JCT W CL3 TH5, Washington, VT
Built 1967 Load: 41.7 t ADT: 200
US 00002 ML
PoorOver: LITTLE RIVER
1.3 MI W JCT VT.100 N, Washington, VT
Built 1961 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 5,600
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.