County profile · official public datasets

Riverside County, CA

1,117 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.4% rated Good, 41.2% Fair, 2.4% Poor.

1,117
Public bridges: 56.4%
Good condition: 2.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Riverside County pairs a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 3%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.4%
Poor-condition share: 1,117
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Riverside County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Riverside County ranks #2 of 58 California counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.4%). Riverside County, California contains 1,117 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.4% are rated “Good,” 41.2% “Fair,” and 2.4% “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

1,117

Public highway bridges in Riverside County

Good condition

56.4%

630 of 1,117 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41.2%

460 of 1,117 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.4%

27 of 1,117 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#2 of 58

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

Condition distribution

Share of 1,117 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

56.4% (630)

Fair

41.2% (460)

Poor

2.4% (27)

Riverside County's Poor-condition bridges carry 338,216 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 12,527 crossings a day against 33,065 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 1,117 of 1,117 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49.8% of Riverside County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

556 of the 1,117 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 56.4% 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 10.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RAMON ROAD over WHITEWATER RIVER, built 1982, carries 35,273 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 27-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 338,216 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

11
1930s

34
1940s

31
1950s

89
1960s

318
1970s

173
1980s

166
1990s

130
2000s

92
2010s

69
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 318 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1977, 7 years newer than the California average of 1970.

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

The 5 California counties nearest Riverside County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.4% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Riverside County and the 5 California counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
San Bernardino County	1,422	41.9%	52.1%	6%	1975
Orange County	1,164	53.2%	43.8%	3%	1978
Riverside County (this page)	1,117	56.4%	41.2%	2.4%	1977
Santa Clara County	964	38.3%	56.1%	5.6%	1972
Fresno County	916	38.9%	57.3%	3.8%	1969
Sacramento County	740	50.9%	45.7%	3.4%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CA (1,117 bridges here).

Collin County, TX · 1,127 bridges
Tulsa County, OK · 1,135 bridges
Clark County, NV · 1,141 bridges
Pima County, AZ · 1,150 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CA (1977 here).

King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Shelby County, TN · avg 1977 · 1,077 bridges
Chautauqua County, NY · avg 1977 · 559 bridges
St. Clair County, IL · avg 1977 · 486 bridges

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

All 1,117 Good 630 Fair 460 Poor 27

Fair-condition bridges (460)

Sort:

Riverside County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Riverside County's Poor-condition bridges carry 338,216 vehicle crossings a day

49.8% of Riverside County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 10.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Riverside 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 (460)

N/B INDIO BLVD.

JEFFERSON AVENUE

STATE ROUTE 111 NB

INTERSTATE 10 EB

AIRPORT BOULEVARD

WILEYS WELL ROAD

WALL ROAD

HAYFIELD ROAD

INTERSTATE 10 WB

ROUTE 91

46TH STREET

E10-E62 CONNECTOR

INTERSTATE 10 EB

INTERSTATE 10 WB

INTERSTATE 10 EB

GOLF CENTER PKWY

MCCALL BLVD

ARROWHEAD BLVD

INTERSTATE 10 WB

INTERSTATE 10 EB

STATE ROUTE 111

STATE ROUTE 78

OLD BANNING-IDYLLW

MAGNOLIA AVENUE

INTERSTATE 10 WB

STATE ROUTE 111

STATE ROUTE 78

INTERSTATE 10 WB

MARKET STREET

INTERSTATE 10 WB

PALISADES DRIVE

CAJALCO ROAD

STATE ROUTE 111

HELLMAN AVENUE

INTERSTATE 10 EB

W10-W60 CONNECTOR

INTERSTATE 10 WB

INTERSTATE 10 EB

INTERSTATE 10 WB

INTERSTATE 10 WB

INTERSTATE 15 SB

WASHINGTON STREET

ROUTE 91

ROUTE 91

ROUTE 91

INTERSTATE 15 SB

STATE ROUTE 111

INTERSTATE 10 WB

INTERSTATE 10 EB

INTERSTATE 15 NB

Related