FHWA National Bridge Inventory Scraper

Overview

Extract comprehensive infrastructure data from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) National Bridge Inventory (NBI) database. This actor downloads official NBI records for all 50 US states, providing engineering specifications, structural ratings, inspection data, and maintenance information for 600,000+ bridges across the nation.

The NBI is the authoritative source for bridge condition assessments used by the U.S. Department of Transportation, state DOTs, and infrastructure investors to prioritize bridge repairs and funding allocation under the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Key Features

• Nationwide Coverage: Access bridge data for all 50 US states (2022-2024 datasets)
• 116 Data Fields: Comprehensive technical specifications including structural ratings, inspection dates, material composition, and maintenance costs
• Condition Filtering: Filter by bridge condition rating (Good/Fair/Poor) — critical signals for infrastructure prioritization
• Flexible Queries: Filter by year built, average daily traffic (ADT), ownership, and geographic features
• Clean Output: Pre-parsed decimal coordinates (lat/lon), condition ratings, and computed bridge age
• High Performance: Downloads entire state files (~6-7MB) in seconds; batch processes 600K records efficiently

Who Should Use This Actor

Civil Engineering & Infrastructure

• Asset managers: Track bridge conditions across portfolios; identify maintenance backlogs
• Design firms: Research historical construction data, compare structural approaches
• DOT agencies: Analyze regional bridge health, plan capital improvement programs

Real Estate & Investment

• Due diligence analysts: Assess bridge access/condition for commercial property valuation
• Infrastructure funds: Identify deteriorating bridges eligible for $1.2T federal funding
• Transportation planners: Model traffic patterns and corridor prioritization

Risk & Insurance

• Underwriters: Score catastrophic structure risk (scour-critical bridges, aging materials)
• Claims adjusters: Investigate bridge-related incidents using official condition ratings
• Consultants: Model failure likelihood based on deck/substructure ratings

Public Data & Research

• Civic engagement: Monitor bridge conditions in your community
• Academic researchers: Analyze infrastructure aging patterns, maintenance cost trends
• Transparency advocates: Track government infrastructure assessments

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Data Fields

The actor outputs 50+ structured fields per bridge:

Field	Description	Example
state	2-letter state code	VT
structureNumber	Unique bridge identifier (NBI format)	000053591-00002
latitude / longitude	Decimal coordinates	45.60, -71.88
featuresIntersected	What the bridge crosses (river, road, etc.)	NORTH BRANCH RIVER
facilityCarried	Road/highway name on bridge	FOUR MILE ROAD
yearBuilt	Year of original construction	2003
bridgeAge	Age in years (computed)	21
bridgeCondition	Overall condition rating	Good, Fair, Poor
structureLengthM	Bridge length in meters	16.8
deckWidthM	Deck width in meters	4.9
deckArea	Deck surface area (m²)	82.32
adt	Average daily traffic volume	10, 1500, 45000
deckCondition	Deck condition rating (0-9 or N)	6
superstructureCondition	Above-deck condition (0-9 or N)	7
substructureCondition	Below-deck condition (0-9 or N)	7
owner	Owner code (01=State, 02=County, 03=City, etc.)	63
ownerDescription	Owner type (decoded)	Bureau of Fish and Wildlife
dateOfInspection	Last inspection date	2023-08-01
inspectFreqMonths	Inspection cycle in months	24
scourCritical	Is bridge vulnerable to water scour?	true, false
functionalClass	Functional classification (0=Rural local to 9=Interstate)	09
bridgeImpCost / totalImpCost	Estimated improvement costs (USD)	150000

Plus 25+ additional structural and operational fields (material type, span configuration, load ratings, etc.).

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How to Scrape Bridge Data

Tutorial 1: Find All Bridges in Poor Condition Built Before 1950

1. Open the Apify Console and launch this actor
2. Input Configuration:
   • States: ["NY", "MA", "CT"] (or customize to your region)
   • Year: 2024
   • Bridge Condition: Poor
   • Minimum Year Built: Leave blank (no filter)
   • Maximum Year Built: 1950
   • Max Results: 5000
3. Run the actor (typically 30-90 seconds for 3 states)
4. Export the results as CSV or JSON from the dataset view
5. Analyze: Sort by bridgeAge to prioritize oldest structures; check totalImpCost for funding gaps

Use case: Identify aging bridges in critical condition eligible for federal infrastructure grants.

Tutorial 2: Compare High-Traffic Bridges Across States

1. Input Configuration:
   • States: ["CA", "TX", "FL"] (high-traffic states)
   • Year: 2024
   • Bridge Condition: all
   • Minimum ADT: 10000 (major corridors only)
   • Max Results: 2000
2. Run and export results
3. In your spreadsheet: Group by state, sort by adt descending, analyze bridgeCondition distribution
4. Insight: Identify states with aging high-traffic bridges that need near-term investment

Use case: Transportation planning; corridor prioritization; comparative infrastructure analysis.

Tutorial 3: Assess Bridge Risk for Real Estate Due Diligence

1. Input Configuration:
   • States: ["WA"] (or target state)
   • Bridge Condition: Poor
   • Max Results: 500
2. Run and download dataset as JSON
3. Cross-reference with property addresses:
   • Filter bridges by latitude/longitude proximity (import into GIS)
   • Check dateOfInspection (recent = more reliable condition data)
   • Review scourCritical flag (water-related closure risk)
4. Report: Include bridge condition in property risk assessment

Use case: Due diligence for commercial real estate; environmental risk scoring; infrastructure risk underwriting.

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Input Configuration

Required

• states (array of strings) — 2-letter state postal codes
  • Examples: ["VT"], ["CA", "NY", "TX"], ["MA", "CT", "RI", "NH"]
  • Accepts all 50 US states

Optional Filters

• year (enum: 2022, 2023, 2024) — NBI data year (default: 2024)
• bridgeCondition (enum: "all", "Good", "Fair", "Poor") — Overall condition filter (default: "all")
• minYearBuilt (integer) — Include only bridges built in or after this year
• maxYearBuilt (integer) — Include only bridges built in or before this year
• minADT (integer) — Minimum average daily traffic (useful for filtering major corridors)
• ownerCode (string) — Filter by owner type:
  • 01 = State Highway Agency
  • 02 = County Highway Agency
  • 03 = City/Town Highway Agency
  • 11 = State Park/Forest Agency
  • 62 = Indian Tribal Government
  • 63 = Bureau of Fish and Wildlife
  • See full list in data fields section
• featuresDesc (string) — Partial match on what the bridge crosses
  • Examples: "RIVER", "I-89", "MISSISSIPPI", "LAKE"
• maxResults (integer, 0-50000) — Maximum records to return (0 = unlimited, default: 1000)

Example Configurations

All Vermont bridges, 2024:

{
  "states": ["VT"],
  "year": "2024",
  "bridgeCondition": "all",
  "maxResults": 0
}

Aged high-traffic bridges in California:

{
  "states": ["CA"],
  "year": "2024",
  "maxYearBuilt": 1980,
  "minADT": 5000,
  "bridgeCondition": "Fair",
  "maxResults": 10000
}

Bridges crossing water bodies in Northeast:

{
  "states": ["MA", "CT", "NY", "VT"],
  "year": "2024",
  "featuresDesc": "RIVER",
  "maxResults": 5000
}

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Pricing

• Cost per bridge: $0.004/result (based on compute time + data transfer)
• Typical run: 50 bridges = $0.20; 1,000 bridges = $4.00
• Full state download (e.g., California): ~2,500 bridges = $10.00
• Apify compute units: ~0.01-0.02 CU per 100 records (pricing depends on Apify plan)

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Data Quality & Accuracy

• Source: Official FHWA National Bridge Inventory (published annually)
• Coverage: 600,000+ bridges; all US states, territories, and tribes
• Refresh: Data updates annually (typically March-April for prior year)
• Condition ratings: Rated 0-9 scale (0=worst, 9=best); "N" = not applicable
• Missing data: Some rural/private bridges have incomplete inspection records; represented as null
• Coordinates: Converted from FHWA DDDMMSS format to decimal degrees for mapping

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Other Actors

Explore related infrastructure data:

• EPA ECHO Scraper — Environmental Compliance & Historic Emissions (permits, violations, facility data)
• USGS Earthquake Scraper — Seismic hazard zones (for bridge seismic risk assessment)
• HUD Fair Market Rents — Real estate valuation context
• Treasury CAFR Scraper — State/local government financial reports (budget context for bridge funding)

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FAQ

Q: Can I download all 600K+ bridges at once?

A: Yes. Set maxResults: 0 and states: ["AL", "AK", ..., "WY"] (all 50 states). Expect ~20-30 minutes runtime and ~150-200 MB dataset. Costs approximately $40-60 depending on result count.

Q: What is "scourCritical"?

A: Bridges where water flow can undermine foundations, especially during floods. Essential for transportation safety planning. If scourCritical: true, the bridge may be vulnerable to sudden closure.

Q: Why are some fields null?

A: The NBI survey allows "not applicable" (N) or missing data. Older bridges may lack detailed inspection records. Rural/private bridges often have sparse data. null fields won't break your analysis—they simply represent absence of data.

Q: How do I use coordinates for mapping?

A: Import latitude, longitude into Google Maps, Mapbox, ArcGIS, or any GIS tool. Decimal degree format works natively in most mapping APIs.

Q: Can I filter by specific highway (e.g., "I-95")?

A: Use the featuresDesc filter with partial matching (e.g., "I-95"). Note: Not all bridges store standardized route designations; some show descriptive names instead.

Q: What's the difference between "condition" fields (deckCondition, superstructure, etc.)?

A: The FHWA rates three components independently:

• Deck: Wearing surface and immediate support
• Superstructure: Above the supports (beams, trusses, arches)
• Substructure: Piers, abutments, and foundations
• bridgeCondition: Composite rating (Good/Fair/Poor) derived from the worst component

Q: How often is the data updated?

A: The NBI publishes updated data annually (typically March-April). This actor always fetches the latest version available on FHWA's servers. Check back each spring for current-year data.

Q: Is this legal to use for commercial purposes?

A: Yes. The FHWA NBI is public government data. Use it freely for analysis, reporting, and commercial applications. Include a citation: "Data source: Federal Highway Administration National Bridge Inventory."

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Legal Disclaimer

This actor extracts publicly available data from the FHWA National Bridge Inventory. Data is provided for informational purposes. The actor maintainers and Apify are not liable for:

• Decisions made based on this data
• Accuracy or timeliness of underlying FHWA data
• Commercial impacts from data use

Always verify critical findings against official FHWA sources and consult with qualified engineers for structural decisions.

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Support & Contact

For issues, feature requests, or questions:

• GitHub Issues (if available)
• Apify Forum: Post in the Apify community forum
• Contact: seatsignal@apify.actor

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Last updated: May 2026