County profile · official public datasets

San Luis Obispo County, CA

401 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.6% rated Good, 46.6% Fair, 5.7% Poor.

401
Public bridges: 47.6%
Good condition: 5.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 33%
lowest Poor share in state: 5.7%
Poor-condition share: 401
public highway bridges: 1970
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 Luis Obispo County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, San Luis Obispo County ranks #19 of 58 California counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.7%). San Luis Obispo County, California contains 401 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.6% are rated “Good,” 46.6% “Fair,” and 5.7% “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

401

Public highway bridges in San Luis Obispo County

Good condition

47.6%

191 of 401 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46.6%

187 of 401 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.7%

23 of 401 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#19 of 58

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

Condition distribution

Share of 401 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

47.6% (191)

Fair

46.6% (187)

Poor

5.7% (23)

San Luis Obispo County's Poor-condition bridges carry 228,907 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 9,952 crossings a day against 12,256 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 401 of 401 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

64.1% of San Luis Obispo County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

257 of the 401 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 47.6% 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 13.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NIBLICK ROAD over US HIGHWAY 101, built 1987, carries 30,055 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 23-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 228,907 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

9
1920s

16
1930s

12
1940s

29
1950s

89
1960s

85
1970s

31
1980s

19
1990s

46
2000s

25
2010s

26
2020s

12

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 89 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1970) matches the California average (1970).

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

The 5 California counties nearest San Luis Obispo County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1968 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 Luis Obispo County and the 5 California counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Siskiyou County	421	39%	55.6%	5.5%	1971
Santa Barbara County	418	51.4%	42.8%	5.7%	1975
San Luis Obispo County (this page)	401	47.6%	46.6%	5.7%	1970
Humboldt County	396	38.9%	54.3%	6.8%	1968
Stanislaus County	386	30.8%	55.7%	13.5%	1956
Monterey County	377	56.8%	35.5%	7.7%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CA (401 bridges here).

Vernon County, MO · 401 bridges
Randolph County, NC · 401 bridges
Jackson County, OR · 401 bridges
Marshall County, KS · 402 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CA (1970 here).

Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
Somerset County, NJ · avg 1970 · 397 bridges

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

All 401 Good 191 Fair 187 Poor 23

All bridges (401)

Sort:

San Luis Obispo County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

San Luis Obispo County's Poor-condition bridges carry 228,907 vehicle crossings a day

64.1% of San Luis Obispo County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 13.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How San Luis Obispo 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

All bridges (401)

TALLY FARMS ROAD

MONTE RD

DOVER CANYON RD

MADONNA RD

BROAD ST

BEACHCOMBER DR

NIPOMO ST

HOSPITAL DRIVE

NACIMIENTO LAKE DR

CALIFORNIA BLVD

S CHORRO ST

BROAD ST

MORRO ST

EQUIPMENT SHOP RD

KLAU MINE RD

MAIN ST

HI MOUNTAIN RD

CAYUCOS CR RD

THOMPSON RD

BUCKLEY RD

HUASNA RD

TASSAJARA CR RD

SANTA FE ROAD

VIA CARTA

BURTON RD

MASON ST

PORTOLA RD

STATE ROUTE 1

COTTONTAIL CR RD

OCEAN BLVD

STATE ROUTE 1

STATE ROUTE 166

EL CAMINO REAL

HOG CANYON RD

VIEJO CAMINO

CO. RD. M4296

LOPEZ DR

STATE ROUTE 1

PRICE CYN RD

LOPEZ DR

CORBETT CANYON RD

CHORRO ST

SOUTH BAY BLVD

STATE ROUTE 227

SAN LUISITO RD

OCEAN BLVD

CYPRESS MT DR

VILLA CREEK RD

HUTTON ROAD

CYPRESS MT DR

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