County profile · official public datasets

Prince of Wales-Hyder County, AK

234 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.8% rated Good, 36.3% Fair, 6.8% Poor.

234
Public bridges: 56.8%
Good condition: 6.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Prince of Wales-Hyder County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 48%
lowest Poor share in state: 6.8%
Poor-condition share: 234
public highway bridges: 1992
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.

Prince of Wales-Hyder County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Prince of Wales-Hyder County ranks #13 of 27 Alaska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.8%). Prince of Wales-Hyder County, Alaska contains 234 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.8% are rated “Good,” 36.3% “Fair,” and 6.8% “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

234

Public highway bridges in Prince of Wales-Hyder County

Good condition

56.8%

133 of 234 rated 7-9

Fair condition

36.3%

85 of 234 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.8%

16 of 234 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 27

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

Condition distribution

Share of 234 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

56.8% (133)

Fair

36.3% (85)

Poor

6.8% (16)

Prince of Wales-Hyder County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,482 vehicle crossings a day

That is 9.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 124 crossings a day against 73 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 206 of 234 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

2.1% of Prince of Wales-Hyder County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

5 of the 234 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 56.8% 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 81% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CRAIG/KLAWOCK/HOLL over CRAB CREEK CULVERT, built 1985, carries 1,200 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,482 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1960s

2
1970s

19
1980s

96
1990s

49
2000s

38
2010s

27
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 96 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 41% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1992) matches the Alaska average (1989).

How Prince of Wales-Hyder County compares with Alaska's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Alaska counties nearest Prince of Wales-Hyder County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.8% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1992 against a peer-group mean of 1992 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Prince of Wales-Hyder County and the 5 Alaska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Prince of Wales-Hyder County (this page)	234	56.8%	36.3%	6.8%	1992
Petersburg County	141	44.7%	47.5%	7.8%	1992
Anchorage County	134	49.3%	50%	0.7%	1992
Hoonah-Angoon County	125	49.6%	35.2%	15.2%	1994
Matanuska-Susitna County	120	50.8%	43.3%	5.8%	1993
Fairbanks North Star County	111	50.5%	42.3%	7.2%	1988

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 Prince of Wales-Hyder 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 Prince of Wales-Hyder County, both outside Alaska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AK (234 bridges here).

Morgan County, IL · 234 bridges
Lyon County, MN · 234 bridges
Jackson County, NC · 234 bridges
Eastland County, TX · 234 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AK (1992 here).

Johnson County, KS · avg 1992 · 781 bridges
Wake County, NC · avg 1992 · 760 bridges
Benton County, AR · avg 1992 · 410 bridges
Nodaway County, MO · avg 1992 · 396 bridges

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

All 234 Good 133 Fair 85 Poor 16

All bridges (234)

Sort:

Prince of Wales-Hyder County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Prince of Wales-Hyder County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,482 vehicle crossings a day

2.1% of Prince of Wales-Hyder County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 81% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Prince of Wales-Hyder 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 (234)

2100000-4.6

2100000-0.21

BIG SALT LAKE ROAD

3000020-0.51

2100000-6.5

3000000-24.82

NORTH THORNE

IRR:KASAAN ROAD

IRR:KASAAN ROAD

IRR:KASAAN ROAD

NO DATA ENTERED

NO DATA ENTERED

NO DATA ENTERED

NO DATA ENTERED

2024300-1.984

NO DATA ENTERED

BIA RT 0007

BIA RT 0007

IRR BIA RTE 735

IRR BIA RTE 26

IRR BIA RTE 461

IRR BIA RTE 461

IRR BIA ROUTE 008

2050000

2160000

3013000-1.06

3065000-2.349

IRR BIA RTE 26

IRR BIA RTE 461

IRR BIA RTE 461

THORNE BAY ROAD

3015100-0.60

IRR BIA RTE 27

CRAIG/KLAWOCK/HOLL

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