County profile · official public datasets

Kings County, CA

168 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40.5% rated Good, 53.6% Fair, 6% Poor.

168
Public bridges: 40.5%
Good condition: 6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 36%
lowest Poor share in state: 6%
Poor-condition share: 168
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Kings County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Kings County ranks #21 of 58 California counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6%). Kings County, California contains 168 public highway bridges. Roughly 40.5% are rated “Good,” 53.6% “Fair,” and 6% “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

168

Public highway bridges in Kings County

Good condition

40.5%

68 of 168 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53.6%

90 of 168 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10 of 168 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#21 of 58

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

Condition distribution

Share of 168 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

40.5% (68)

Fair

53.6% (90)

Poor

6% (10)

Kings County's Poor-condition bridges carry 39,340 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,934 crossings a day against 4,915 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 168 of 168 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

73.8% of Kings County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

124 of the 168 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 40.5% 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 52.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STATE ROUTE 198 over BNSF RY & AMTRAK, built 1967, carries 20,500 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 39,340 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

7
1920s

2
1930s

1
1940s

8
1950s

30
1960s

58
1970s

29
1980s

5
1990s

16
2000s

3
2010s

3
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 58 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 34.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the California average (1970).

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

The 5 California counties nearest Kings County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1967 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Kings County and the 5 California counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
El Dorado County	192	46.9%	46.9%	6.3%	1975
Santa Cruz County	192	40.1%	42.2%	17.7%	1963
Kings County (this page)	168	40.5%	53.6%	6%	1968
Plumas County	165	26.7%	69.1%	4.2%	1965
Napa County	158	45.6%	50%	4.4%	1961
San Francisco County	143	34.3%	51%	14.7%	1969

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CA (168 bridges here).

Wilcox County, AL · 168 bridges
Carroll County, GA · 168 bridges
Clayton County, GA · 168 bridges
Troup County, GA · 168 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CA (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Delaware County, PA · avg 1968 · 387 bridges
Genesee County, MI · avg 1968 · 371 bridges

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

All 168 Good 68 Fair 90 Poor 10

Fair-condition bridges (90)

Sort:

Kings County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Kings County's Poor-condition bridges carry 39,340 vehicle crossings a day

73.8% of Kings County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 52.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Kings 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

Fair-condition bridges (90)

STATE ROUTE 198

STATE ROUTE 198

STATE ROUTE 41

STATE ROUTE 41

STATE ROUTE 41

STATE ROUTE 41 SB

19TH AVENUE

GRANGEVILLE BL

LACEY BLVD

16TH AVE

DENVER AVE

KENT AVE.

NILES AVENUE

ELDER AVE

COLONY RD

NILES AVE

ENTRANCE ROAD

STATE ROUTE 198

STATE ROUTE 198

MILHAM AVE

STATE ROUTE 198

SR 43

12TH AVE

24TH AVE

5 1/2 AVE

10TH AVENUE

MILHAM AVENUE

21ST AVE

25TH AVE

25TH AVE

FREMONT AVE

XENIA AVE OC

HOUSTON AVE

INTERSTATE 5 SB

INTERSTATE 5 NB

6TH AVE

ELGIN AVE

STATE ROUTE 41 SB

STATE ROUTE 41 SB

EXCELSIOR AVE

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