County profile · official public datasets

Santa Barbara County, CA

418 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 51.4% rated Good, 42.8% Fair, 5.7% Poor.

418
Public bridges: 51.4%
Good condition: 5.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Santa Barbara County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 34%
lowest Poor share in state: 5.7%
Poor-condition share: 418
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Santa Barbara County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Santa Barbara County ranks #20 of 58 California counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.7%). Santa Barbara County, California contains 418 public highway bridges. Roughly 51.4% are rated “Good,” 42.8% “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

418

Public highway bridges in Santa Barbara County

Good condition

51.4%

215 of 418 rated 7-9

Fair condition

42.8%

179 of 418 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.7%

24 of 418 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#20 of 58

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

Condition distribution

Share of 418 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

51.4% (215)

Fair

42.8% (179)

Poor

5.7% (24)

Santa Barbara County's Poor-condition bridges carry 440,464 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.6% 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 18,353 crossings a day against 13,892 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 418 of 418 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

59.6% of Santa Barbara County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

249 of the 418 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 51.4% 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 13.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US HIGHWAY 101 NB over MARIA YGNACIO CREEK, built 1961, carries 60,500 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 24-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 440,464 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

1
1910s

9
1920s

10
1930s

8
1940s

19
1950s

49
1960s

119
1970s

44
1980s

29
1990s

43
2000s

28
2010s

41
2020s

17

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 119 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 1975, 5 years newer than the California average of 1970.

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

The 5 California counties nearest Santa Barbara County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1967 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Santa Barbara County and the 5 California counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Imperial County	444	50.7%	40.5%	8.8%	1968
Butte County	437	31.8%	62%	6.2%	1958
Siskiyou County	421	39%	55.6%	5.5%	1971
Santa Barbara County (this page)	418	51.4%	42.8%	5.7%	1975
San Luis Obispo County	401	47.6%	46.6%	5.7%	1970
Humboldt County	396	38.9%	54.3%	6.8%	1968

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CA (418 bridges here).

Lucas County, OH · 418 bridges
Madison County, TN · 418 bridges
Kay County, OK · 419 bridges
Taylor County, TX · 419 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CA (1975 here).

Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges
Monroe County, NY · avg 1975 · 615 bridges

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

All 418 Good 215 Fair 179 Poor 24

All bridges (418)

Sort:

Santa Barbara County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Santa Barbara County's Poor-condition bridges carry 440,464 vehicle crossings a day

59.6% of Santa Barbara County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 13.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Santa Barbara 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 (418)

ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN

US HIGHWAY 101 SB

STATE ROUTE 1 SB

BONITA SCHOOL ROAD

JALAMA RD

STATE ROUTE 217

BETTERAVIA RD

OLIVE MILL ROAD

JALAMA RD

STATE ROUTE 246

U.S. HIGHWAY 101

JALAMA ROAD

ALAMO PINTADO AV

STATE ROUTE 166

HAPPY CANYON ROAD

STATE ROUTE 33

STOW CANYON RD

JALAMA RD

PARK ROAD

ARRELLAGA STREET

N135-N101 N101-S13

VIA REAL

US HIGHWAY 101 NB

SEVENTH ST

PATTERSON AVE

US HIGHWAY 101 NB

ARMOUR RANCH ROAD

US HIGHWAY 101 NB

STATE ROUTE 166

STATE ROUTE 166

U.S. HIGHWAY 101

US HIGHWAY 101 SB

STATE ROUTE 192

STATE ROUTE 246

STOWELL RD

US HIGHWAY 101 SB

US HIGHWAY 101 NB

STATE ROUTE 225

BECKSTEAD OC

US HIGHWAY 101 SB

US HIGHWAY 101 NB

US HIGHWAY 101 SB

US HIGHWAY 101 NB

US HIGHWAY 101 NB

STATE ROUTE 154

N101-MAIN ST OFF

MAIN ST-N101 ON RP

STATE ROUTE 150

CATHEDRAL OAKS RD

US HIGHWAY 101

Related