County profile · official public datasets

Denali County, AK

27 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 18.5% rated Good, 77.8% Fair, 3.7% Poor.

27
Public bridges: 18.5%
Good condition: 3.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.

Denali County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 22%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.7%
Poor-condition share: 27
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Denali County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Denali County ranks #6 of 27 Alaska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.7%). Denali County, Alaska contains 27 public highway bridges. Roughly 18.5% are rated “Good,” 77.8% “Fair,” and 3.7% “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.

Total bridges

Public highway bridges in Denali County

Good condition

18.5%

5 of 27 rated 7-9

Fair condition

77.8%

21 of 27 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.7%

1 of 27 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#6 of 27

Among Alaska counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 27 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

18.5% (5)

Fair

77.8% (21)

Poor

3.7% (1)

Denali County's Poor-condition bridges carry 910 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 910 crossings a day against 918 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 27 of 27 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

77.8% of Denali County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

21 of the 27 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 18.5% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

PARKS HIGHWAY over NENANA RIVER AT REX, built 1963, carries 910 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 910 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1960s

9
1970s

13
1980s

1
2000s

3
2010s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 13 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 48.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1976, 13 years older than the Alaska average of 1989.

How Denali County compares with Alaska's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Alaska counties nearest Denali County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is 12 years older.

Showing the 5 closest of 26 Alaska counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Denali County and the 5 Alaska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Sitka City and County	37	45.9%	51.4%	2.7%	1989
Nome County	30	30%	63.3%	6.7%	1977
Denali County (this page)	27	18.5%	77.8%	3.7%	1976
Kodiak Island County	25	32%	60%	8%	1981
Haines County	20	45%	50%	5%	1994
Aleutians East County	16	31.3%	62.5%	6.3%	2000

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 Denali 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 Denali County, both outside Alaska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AK (27 bridges here).

Phillips County, CO · 27 bridges
Teller County, CO · 27 bridges
Baker County, GA · 27 bridges
Alcona County, MI · 27 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AK (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.

All 27 Good 5 Fair 21 Poor 1

All bridges (27)

Sort:

Denali County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Denali County's Poor-condition bridges carry 910 vehicle crossings a day

77.8% of Denali County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Denali County compares with Alaska's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

All bridges (27)

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

HEALY ROAD

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

HEALY SPUR ROAD

CANTWELL ROAD

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

DENALI HIGHWAY

PARKS HIGHWAY

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