County profile · official public datasets

Fresno County, CA

916 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.9% rated Good, 57.3% Fair, 3.8% Poor.

916
Public bridges: 38.9%
Good condition: 3.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Fresno County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.

Top 16%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.8%
Poor-condition share: 916
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Fresno County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fresno County ranks #9 of 58 California counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.8%). Fresno County, California contains 916 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.9% are rated “Good,” 57.3% “Fair,” and 3.8% “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

916

Public highway bridges in Fresno County

Good condition

38.9%

356 of 916 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57.3%

525 of 916 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.8%

35 of 916 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#9 of 58

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

Condition distribution

Share of 916 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.9% (356)

Fair

57.3% (525)

Poor

3.8% (35)

Fresno County's Poor-condition bridges carry 268,953 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 7,684 crossings a day against 15,630 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 916 of 916 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

60% of Fresno County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

550 of the 916 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 38.9% 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 28.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STATE ROUTE 41 over O STREET, built 1974, carries 76,000 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 35-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 268,953 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

4
1920s

72
1930s

49
1940s

95
1950s

116
1960s

165
1970s

85
1980s

82
1990s

104
2000s

90
2010s

29
2020s

24

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 165 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1969) matches the California average (1970).

How Fresno County compares with California's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 California counties nearest Fresno County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 5 years older.

Showing the 5 closest of 57 California counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Fresno County and the 5 California counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Orange County	1,164	53.2%	43.8%	3%	1978
Riverside County	1,117	56.4%	41.2%	2.4%	1977
Santa Clara County	964	38.3%	56.1%	5.6%	1972
Fresno County (this page)	916	38.9%	57.3%	3.8%	1969
Sacramento County	740	50.9%	45.7%	3.4%	1973
Kern County	668	50.1%	43.3%	6.6%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CA (916 bridges here).

St. Louis County, MO · 912 bridges
Franklin County, OH · 922 bridges
Erie County, NY · 906 bridges
Jackson County, MO · 930 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CA (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Somerset County, PA · avg 1969 · 454 bridges
Lewis County, WA · avg 1969 · 419 bridges

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

All 916 Good 356 Fair 525 Poor 35

Good-condition bridges (356)

Sort:

Fresno County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Fresno County's Poor-condition bridges carry 268,953 vehicle crossings a day

60% of Fresno County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 28.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fresno County compares with California's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Good-condition bridges (356)

GREENWOOD AVE

LOS GATOS ROAD

S CHESTNUT AVENUE

S HOWARD AVE

NEES AVE

N ACADEMY AVE

N PALM AVE

W. NIELSEN AVE

N MARKS AVE

N FOWLER AVE

DUNLAP ROAD

S ACADEMY AVE

S ACADEMY AVE

GRANTLAND AVE

GOODFELLOW AVE

GOODFELLOW AVE

FRONTAGE ROAD

SOUTH FRONTAGE RD

S. MINNEWAWA

BASS AVE

MCKINLEY AVE

ITALIAN BAR RD

E. LINCOLN AVE

MC KINLEY AVE

N RUSSELL AVE

MANNING AVE

MANNING AVE

LEONARD AVE

ENNIS ROAD

ASHLAND AVENUE

WATTS VALLEY RD

NORTH LOCAN AVENUE

LEONARD AVE

EAST AMERICAN AVE

EAST SOUTH AVE

DAVIS AVE

EAST ADAMS AVE

EAST ELKHORN AVE

TUOLUMNE STREET

West Gale Ave

STATE ROUTE 180

CEDAR AVENUE

INTERSTATE 5 SB

INTERSTATE 5 NB

INTERSTATE 5 SB

INTERSTATE 5 NB

INTERSTATE 5 NB

STATE ROUTE 99

INTERSTATE 5 SB

INTERSTATE 5 NB

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