Road 196
Carrying Road 196 over Friant-Kern Canal
2 mi WSW of Woodlake CA, Tulare, California
Inventory: FHWA NBI 2024 · last ETL August 2026
FHWA NBI record, refreshed with each annual release.
Road 196 in Tulare, California sits above 31% of rated California bridges on inventory load rating (30 t), while its 1948 build year is earlier than 76% of Tulare's recorded-year cohort (589 bridges).
Road 196 in Tulare, California is rated Good in the FHWA's 2024 National Bridge Inventory. Built in 1948, it carries 1 rated component on the inspecting agency's 0-9 scale, and its weakest reported component scores 7. The lowest applicable rating sets the federal condition category, so this Good result describes the weakest reported component rather than the structure as a whole. No NBI category is a closure decision or a live crossing-safety verdict.
NBI record plate
Structure CA:FKC MP68.17
PRE-1950 · CONCRETE · LONG-SPAN-RUN · CULVERT-LED · LOCAL-ADT · STANDARD-LOAD · CAT-GOOD
- PRE-1950 Pre-1950
- CONCRETE Concrete
- LONG-SPAN-RUN 5 spans
- CULVERT-LED Culvert-led
- LOCAL-ADT Local ADT
- STANDARD-LOAD Standard load
- CAT-GOOD Good
Inspection-sheet codes from this record’s year, material family, spans, controlling component, ADT, inventory load, and NBI category, not a live closure verdict.
Bridge Snapshot: Road 196
The Road 196 bridge in Tulare, California carries Road 196 over Friant-Kern Canal. It was built in 1948, making it 78 years old today. The structure is built primarily of concrete continuous and spans 5 sections, stretching 19.3 meters (63 feet) end to end. Daily traffic averages 50 vehicles, placing it in the lower-traffic tier of California bridges. It is owned and maintained by Bureau of Reclamation.
The latest FHWA inspection records show culvert at 7/9. The weakest component sits in good condition. None of this bridge's reported major components fall into the Poor condition range.
How Road 196 compares
Age against the county: built in 1948, earlier than 445 of Tulare's 589 bridges with a recorded construction year (76%), against a county median build year of 1954. Age is not a defect on its own, but it is the population from which future Poor ratings are drawn.
Live comparison across California bridges with a recorded inventory load rating (25,538 of 25,848 rated).
Road 196 vs every rated California bridge
Inventory load rating (metric tons), FHWA NBI, this state
30 Top 69% higher than 31% of 25,538 bridges
rated California bridges, bucketed by value
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more bridges. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory · August 2026
Condition Ratings
Full 0–9 scale + sufficiency-rating breakdown: how condition ratings work.
Tulare inventory by recorded NBI category
Exclusive Good/Fair/Poor bands across all 589 bridges in this county. Orthogonal to this structure's component profile above: a county catalog share, not a live crossing-safety verdict.
Structural Details
- Year Built
- 1948
- Material
- Concrete Continuous
- Number of Spans
- 5
- Structure Length
- 19.3 m (63 ft) 0
- Owner
- Bureau of Reclamation
- Avg Daily Traffic
- 50 vehicles/day
- Structure Number
- FKC MP68.17
Location
Data Source
FHWA National Bridge Inventory (NBI).
FHWA NBI Program ↗How to read this record
This page shows what the last federal inspection recorded, not whether Road 196 is safe to cross today. Here is how to use it.
- NBI condition ratings reflect the latest record in this annual dataset, not a live status. Current routine inspection intervals are risk-based.
- Learn how the 0–9 condition scale and Good/Fair/Poor categories are defined. How condition ratings work
- Compare Road 196 against other structures in Tulare and across California. California bridges
- Noticed visible damage or a safety concern? Report it to the agency that owns the bridge, or call 911 in an emergency. How to report a bridge
Condition codes come straight from the FHWA National Bridge Inventory and are not a real-time safety judgment. Only the owning agency, a state DOT, county, or other owner, can post, restrict, or close a bridge.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do the condition ratings mean for Road 196?
Road 196 in Tulare, California on the FHWA's 0–9 scale.
How often is Road 196 inspected?
Road 196's responsible agency sets its routine interval under FHWA's risk-based inspection rules; this page does not expose the scheduled interval. It carries about 50 vehicles per day.
What does “structurally deficient” mean in older bridge reports?
FHWA retired that reported status beginning with the 2018 archive. Road 196 is currently shown as Good condition from its component ratings; that category is not a live closure or safety decision.
What is the inventory load rating for Road 196?
Road 196 has an NBI inventory load rating of 29.5 metric tons.
Who is responsible for maintaining Road 196?
Road 196 is owned and maintained by Bureau of Reclamation.
How old is Road 196 and does age affect safety?
Road 196 was built in 1948, making it 78 years old.
Disclaimer: Bridge condition data is from the FHWA NBI and reflects the last reported inspection. A Poor condition rating is not a live declaration that a bridge is closed or unsafe for travel. For current closure, posting, or safety information, contact the responsible transportation agency.
Share this inspection record
Send this source-bounded record or download its data card. An NBI condition category is not a closure or live crossing-safety verdict.
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Component ratings, ADT, and condition category on this page are copied from the NBI record for this structure; no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2024 NBI release. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.