County profile · official public datasets

San Benito County, CA

76 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 46.1% rated Good, 43.4% Fair, 10.5% Poor.

76
Public bridges: 46.1%
Good condition: 10.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

San Benito County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

48th
of 58 on Poor share: 10.5%
Poor-condition share: 76
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

San Benito County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, San Benito County ranks #48 of 58 California counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.5%). San Benito County, California contains 76 public highway bridges. Roughly 46.1% are rated “Good,” 43.4% “Fair,” and 10.5% “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 San Benito County

Good condition

46.1%

35 of 76 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.4%

33 of 76 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.5%

8 of 76 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#48 of 58

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

Condition distribution

Share of 76 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

46.1% (35)

Fair

43.4% (33)

Poor

10.5% (8)

San Benito County's Poor-condition bridges carry 39,910 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,989 crossings a day against 6,862 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 76 of 76 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

59.2% of San Benito County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

45 of the 76 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 46.1% 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 45.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STATE ROUTE 25 over PAJARO RIVER, built 1951, carries 18,000 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 39,910 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

5
1940s

9
1950s

10
1960s

14
1970s

6
1980s

5
1990s

11
2000s

10
2010s

2
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 14 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1971) matches the California average (1970).

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

The 5 California counties nearest San Benito County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for San Benito County and the 5 California counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Del Norte County	96	51%	37.5%	11.5%	1975
Modoc County	87	49.4%	49.4%	1.1%	1969
San Benito County (this page)	76	46.1%	43.4%	10.5%	1971
Inyo County	66	63.6%	31.8%	4.5%	1972
Sierra County	65	40%	52.3%	7.7%	1972
Amador County	61	37.7%	37.7%	24.6%	1966

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CA (76 bridges here).

Screven County, GA · 76 bridges
Washington County, GA · 76 bridges
Wayne County, KY · 76 bridges
Barnwell County, SC · 76 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CA (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges

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

All 76 Good 35 Fair 33 Poor 8

Good-condition bridges (35)

Sort:

San Benito County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

San Benito County's Poor-condition bridges carry 39,910 vehicle crossings a day

59.2% of San Benito County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 45.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How San Benito 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 (35)

PACHECO HIGHWAY

SALINAS ROAD

STATE ROUTE 25

U.S. HIGHWAY 101

SAN JUAN ROAD

S101-W129 OFF RAMP

E129-N101-W129

STATE ROUTE 156

STATE ROUTE 156

PANOCHE ROAD

LOVERS LANE

MC CLOSKEY ROAD

KT ROAD

FAIRVIEW ROAD

FALLON ROAD

SOUTH SIDE ROAD

SAN JUAN HIGHWAY

CIENEGA ROAD

LONE TREE ROAD

S B HISTORIC PARK

HOSPITAL ROAD

CIENEGA ROAD

SOLSTICE CANYON RO

US HIGHWAY 101 SB

PANOCHE ROAD

US HIGHWAY 101 NB

STATE ROUTE 25

STATE ROUTE 129

STATE ROUTE 25

STATE ROUTE 156 WB

CIENEGA ROAD

SANTA ANITA ROAD

STATE ROUTE 129

SAN JUAN HIGHWAY

SAN JUAN HIGHWAY

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