New York Bridge Study Finds Nearly 90% of High-Traffic Bridges Past Design Life
| Key Findings
89.5% of New York’s high-traffic bridges, those carrying 100,000+ vehicles daily, have exceeded their 50-year design life, the second-highest rate among the top five bridge states. New York has the oldest high-traffic bridge in the United States: the I-278 FDR Drive bridge, built in 1883, 143 years ago, still carrying 110,939 vehicles daily. 4 bridges are at least 100 years old, carrying a combined 427,975 vehicles daily, with the oldest predating the automobile era by over two decades. New York ranks 1st among major states with a significant high-traffic bridge inventory (67.1 years), more than 10 years older than the national average of 56.3 years. The busiest bridge in the state, Amtrak Railroad Fort Washington, was built in 1931 and carries 271,808 vehicles daily at 95 years old. |
New York is home to the oldest high-traffic bridge infrastructure in the United States, and the data reveals just how much of it is operating far beyond its intended lifespan. A state-level analysis of federal bridge data shows that nearly nine in ten of New York’s high-traffic bridges, structures carrying over 100,000 vehicles daily, were built more than 50 years ago. Four have reached the century mark, including one structure from 1883 that predates the automobile itself. With the highest average bridge age of any state with a significant high-traffic bridge inventory, 67.1 years, New York’s bridge infrastructure carries the weight of both history and modern traffic demands.
The study, conducted by Beck & Beck, analyzed National Bridge Inventory (NBI) data from the Federal Highway Administration, filtering for New York bridges with Average Daily Traffic (ADT) exceeding 100,000 vehicles and calculating bridge age based on year built.
New York vs. the Nation: The Oldest Bridge Inventory in America
New York ranks 5th nationally with 247 high-traffic bridges, behind California (1,395), Texas (589), Florida (323), and New Jersey (270). The state’s bridges carry 32.4 million vehicle crossings daily, accounting for 4.2% of all high-traffic bridge traffic nationwide. But New York’s defining characteristic is age: its average bridge age of 67.1 years is the highest of any state with a significant high-traffic bridge inventory, more than 10 years above the national average of 56.3 years. The state’s 89.5% rate of bridges exceeding 50 years is also well above the 76.1% national average, and over a quarter of its high-traffic bridges (26.7%) were built before 1950.
Top 10 Oldest High-Traffic Bridges in New York
| Rank | Bridge Name | Year Built | Age | Daily Traffic |
| 1 | I-278 FDR Drive | 1883 | 143 yrs | 110,939 |
| 2 | Allen Creek | 1900 | 126 yrs | 101,500 |
| 3 | 21st Street / 22nd Street | 1909 | 117 yrs | 108,144 |
| 4 | New Rochelle Road | 1926 | 100 yrs | 107,392 |
| 5 | 25 X 22nd Street / 21st | 1929 | 97 yrs | 108,144 |
| 6 | Amtrak Railroad Fort Wa | 1931 | 95 yrs | 271,808 |
| 7 | Carlls River Pedestrian | 1933 | 93 yrs | 139,208 |
| 8 | Locust Lane | 1934 | 92 yrs | 129,086 |
| 9 | Bartow Avenue Hutchinson | 1935 | 91 yrs | 123,424 |
| 10 | Cypress Hills Cem | 1935 | 91 yrs | 101,689 |
The I-278 FDR Drive bridge, built in 1883, is the oldest high-traffic bridge in the entire United States, predating the widespread use of automobiles by over two decades, and still carries 110,939 vehicles daily at 143 years old. New York has the second-most century-old high-traffic bridges of any state, with 4 of the nation’s 18 total. The Amtrak Railroad Fort Washington bridge, built in 1931, stands out for combining extreme age (95 years) with extraordinary volume: 271,808 vehicles per day, making it both one of the oldest and the single busiest bridge in the state.
Top 10 Busiest High-Traffic Bridges in New York
| Rank | Bridge Name | Year Built | Age | Daily Traffic |
| 1 | Amtrak Railroad Fort Wa | 1931 | 95 yrs | 271,808 |
| 2 | Amtrak Railroad Fort Wa | 1962 | 64 yrs | 268,692 |
| 3 | Little Neck Pkwy | 1957 | 69 yrs | 225,381 |
| 4 | 108th Street | 1963 | 63 yrs | 214,103 |
| 5 | Rte I-278 Furman Street | 1944 | 82 yrs | 202,650 |
| 6 | Rte I-278 John Warren Av | 1967 | 59 yrs | 202,650 |
| 7 | 907A Rte 90 | 1939 | 87 yrs | 183,587 |
| 8 | Flushing Bay Promenade | 1963 | 63 yrs | 183,587 |
| 9 | 907C Rte I | 1961 | 65 yrs | 182,700 |
| 10 | 15th Street / 17th Street | 1962 | 64 yrs | 181,470 |
The Amtrak Railroad Fort Washington bridge, built in 1931, carries 271,808 vehicles daily at 95 years old, the highest volume of any bridge in the state. The Rte I-278 Furman Street bridge (1944, 202,650 daily vehicles) and the 907A Rte 90 bridge (1939, 183,587 daily vehicles) are both pre-World War II structures handling traffic loads their designers could never have imagined. Nine of the ten busiest bridges were built before 1965, and none is younger than 59 years old.
| “New York has the oldest high-traffic bridge inventory in the country, and the numbers are striking. When a bridge built during the Chester Arthur administration is still carrying over 100,000 vehicles a day, and the state’s busiest bridge is a 95-year-old structure handling a quarter-million daily crossings, it tells you how much of New York’s critical infrastructure is operating on borrowed time. Drivers involved in accidents on aging infrastructure may face unique challenges in determining liability.”
— John Beck, Attorney & Founding Partner, Beck & Beck |
New York High-Traffic Bridge Age Distribution
| Age Category | Bridge Count | % of Total | Combined Daily Traffic |
| 100+ years | 4 | 1.6% | 427,975 |
| 70–99 years | 120 | 48.6% | 15,298,472 |
| 50–69 years | 97 | 39.3% | 13,598,698 |
| 30–49 years | 6 | 2.4% | 665,461 |
| Under 30 years | 20 | 8.1% | 2,398,246 |
Half of New York’s high-traffic bridges (48.6%) fall in the 70–99 year age range, carrying over 15.3 million vehicles daily. Including the 4 century-old bridges, 50.2% of all bridges are 70 years old or older. Only 8.1% of bridges were built within the last 30 years, and just 2.4% fall in the 30–49 year range, reflecting a sharp decline in new bridge construction during the 1980s and 1990s that has left the state heavily dependent on mid-century infrastructure.
When New York’s Bridges Were Built: Construction Era Breakdown
| Construction Era | Bridge Count | % of Total | Combined Daily Traffic |
| Pre-1930 | 5 | 2.0% | 536,119 |
| 1930–1949 | 61 | 24.7% | 8,006,225 |
| 1950–1959 | 77 | 31.2% | 9,803,447 |
| 1960–1969 | 73 | 29.6% | 10,408,720 |
| 1970–1979 | 5 | 2.0% | 570,634 |
| 1980–1999 | 8 | 3.2% | 890,444 |
| 2000–Present | 18 | 7.3% | 2,173,263 |
The 1950s and 1960s together account for 60.7% of New York’s high-traffic bridges, with 150 structures carrying 20.2 million vehicles daily. But New York’s pre-war inventory is also remarkably large: 61 bridges (24.7%) were built between 1930 and 1949, and 5 bridges (2.0%) predate 1930 entirely. The 1970s saw a dramatic dropoff to just 5 bridges, and construction remained minimal through the 1990s. The 18 bridges (7.3%) built since 2000 represent a modest renewal effort relative to the scale of the state’s aging stock.
Top 10 Pre-1950 Bridges Still Carrying 100,000+ Vehicles Daily
| Rank | Bridge Name | Year Built | Age | Daily Traffic |
| 1 | I-278 FDR Drive | 1883 | 143 yrs | 110,939 |
| 2 | Allen Creek | 1900 | 126 yrs | 101,500 |
| 3 | 21st Street / 22nd Street | 1909 | 117 yrs | 108,144 |
| 4 | New Rochelle Road | 1926 | 100 yrs | 107,392 |
| 5 | 25 X 22nd Street / 21st | 1929 | 97 yrs | 108,144 |
| 6 | Amtrak Railroad Fort Wa | 1931 | 95 yrs | 271,808 |
| 7 | Carlls River Pedestrian | 1933 | 93 yrs | 139,208 |
| 8 | Locust Lane | 1934 | 92 yrs | 129,086 |
| 9 | Bartow Avenue Hutchinson | 1935 | 91 yrs | 123,424 |
| 10 | Cypress Hills Cem | 1935 | 91 yrs | 101,689 |
New York has 66 pre-1950 bridges still carrying over 100,000 vehicles daily, more than any state except California, with a combined daily traffic load of over 8.5 million crossings. Every one of these bridges is at least 77 years old, and three are over a century old. The Amtrak Railroad Fort Washington bridge (1931) handles the heaviest load among pre-1950 structures at 271,808 vehicles per day, making it the busiest pre-war bridge in the state.
New York’s 4 Century-Old High-Traffic Bridges
| Rank | Bridge Name | Year Built | Age | Daily Traffic |
| 1 | I-278 FDR Drive | 1883 | 143 yrs | 110,939 |
| 2 | Allen Creek | 1900 | 126 yrs | 101,500 |
| 3 | 21st Street / 22nd Street | 1909 | 117 yrs | 108,144 |
| 4 | New Rochelle Road | 1926 | 100 yrs | 107,392 |
New York has the second-most century-old high-traffic bridges of any state, with 4 of the nation’s 18 total. These four bridges carry a combined 427,975 vehicles daily. The I-278 FDR Drive bridge (1883) and Allen Creek bridge (1900) both predate the automobile age, while the 21st Street / 22nd Street bridge (1909) was built when horse-drawn carriages still shared city streets. All four continue to serve as critical links in New York’s transportation network.
New York High-Traffic Bridge Data at a Glance
| Metric | Value |
| Total High-Traffic Bridges (ADT ≥ 100K) | 247 |
| Total Daily Vehicle Crossings | 32,388,852 |
| National Rank by Bridge Count | 5th |
| National Rank by Average Bridge Age | 3rd (3rd overall, 1st among states with 50+ bridges)(67.1 years) |
| Share of National High-Traffic Bridges | 4.8% |
| Share of National High-Traffic Crossings | 4.2% |
| Average Bridge Age | 67.1 years |
| Median Bridge Age | 70 years |
| Bridges Over 50 Years Old | 221 (89.5%) |
| Bridges Over 70 Years Old | 109 (44.1%) |
| Century-Old Bridges (100+ years) | 4 |
| Pre-1960 Bridges | 143 (57.9%) |
| Pre-1960 Daily Traffic | 18,345,791 |
| Pre-1950 Bridges | 66 (26.7%) |
| Bridges Built Since 2000 | 18 (7.3%) |
| Oldest Bridge Year | 1883 |
| Newest Bridge Year | 2021 |
Methodology
Study Overview
Beck & Beck analyzed official bridge inventory data from the Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory (NBI) 2025 data release to identify high-traffic bridges across the United States and assess their age characteristics.
Data Collection Process
Primary Data Source: Federal Highway Administration National Bridge Inventory (NBI) ASCII Data 2025. Geographic Scope: All 50 U.S. states plus District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Reference Year: 2026 (for age calculations).
Filtering Methodology
Average Daily Traffic (ADT): Only bridges with ADT => 100,000 vehicles were included to focus on high-traffic structures. Year Built: Used to establish bridge age and identify oldest structures still in service. Bridge Age Calculation: Current Bridge Age = 2026 – Year Built.
Calculation Methodology
State Rankings: Determined by total count of high-traffic bridges meeting ADT threshold. Average Bridge Age: Calculated as mean of all bridge ages within each state. Pre-1960 Bridges: Count of bridges with Year Built < 1960 for each state.
Data Sources
Primary Source: Federal Highway Administration National Bridge Inventory (NBI): https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/nbi/ascii2025.cfm
Research Dataset: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J7QzOjCxivpCzNycVuxhwcgsJ_1tMtZl/edit?gid=2095776817#gid=2095776817
Study by: https://becklawmo.com/
About Beck & Beck
Beck & Beck, Missouri Car Accident Lawyers, is an experienced law firm focused on vehicle accident representation. The firm supports clients from early claim evaluation through medical care coordination and insurance negotiations, advocating aggressively for fair outcomes after serious crashes. For more information or media inquiries related to this report, contact our team. For more information, visit https://becklawmo.com/
