County profile · official public datasets

Sutter County, CA

121 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.9% rated Good, 52.9% Fair, 13.2% Poor.

121
Public bridges: 33.9%
Good condition: 13.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

53rd
of 58 on Poor share: 13.2%
Poor-condition share: 121
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.

Sutter County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sutter County ranks #53 of 58 California counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 13.2%). Sutter County, California contains 121 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.9% are rated “Good,” 52.9% “Fair,” and 13.2% “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

121

Public highway bridges in Sutter County

Good condition

33.9%

41 of 121 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52.9%

64 of 121 rated 5-6

Poor condition

13.2%

16 of 121 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#53 of 58

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

Condition distribution

Share of 121 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33.9% (41)

Fair

52.9% (64)

Poor

13.2% (16)

Sutter County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,387 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 13.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 837 crossings a day against 9,659 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 121 of 121 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.5% of Sutter County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

66 of the 121 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 33.9% 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 56.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STATE ROUTE 20 over SUTTER BYPASS, built 1938, carries 7,600 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 13,387 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

12
1930s

20
1940s

8
1950s

10
1960s

9
1970s

15
1980s

7
1990s

17
2000s

7
2010s

13
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the California average (1970).

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

The 5 California counties nearest Sutter County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 13.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1965 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sutter County and the 5 California counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Lake County	129	30.2%	62%	7.8%	1970
Yuba County	127	37.8%	55.9%	6.3%	1967
Tuolumne County	125	36%	56.8%	7.2%	1964
Sutter County (this page)	121	33.9%	52.9%	13.2%	1968
Mariposa County	109	21.1%	67.9%	11%	1956
Lassen County	108	25.9%	65.7%	8.3%	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 Sutter 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 Sutter County, both outside California so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CA (121 bridges here).

Gadsden County, FL · 121 bridges
Emanuel County, GA · 121 bridges
Union County, LA · 121 bridges
Montcalm County, MI · 121 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 121 Good 41 Fair 64 Poor 16

Fair-condition bridges (64)

Sort:

Sutter County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sutter County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,387 vehicle crossings a day

54.5% of Sutter County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 56.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sutter 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 (64)

GARMIRE RD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

NICOLAUS AVE

EAST BUTTE RD

STATE ROUTE 20

MARCUM RD

SANDERS RD

HOWSLEY ROAD

NICOLAUS AVE

HOWSLEY RD

SUBACO RD

BREWER RD

SWANSON ROAD

SWANSON ROAD

SOUTH BUTTE ROAD

STATE ROUTE 99 SB

STATE ROUTE 70 WB

CUTTING AVE

PLEASANT GROVE RD

PLEASANT GROVE RD

PLEASANT GROVE RD

PLEASANT GROVE RD

CATLETT RD

PACIFIC AVENUE

PLACER RD

PASEO RD

ENCINAL RD

BLOYD RD

BOGUE RD

LARKIN RD

PLEASANT GROVE RD

BISHOP ROAD

S70-S99 CONNECTOR

STATE ROUTE 20

GARDEN HIGHWAY

RIEGO RD

STATE ROUTE 99 SB

STATE ROUTE 113

NICOLAUS AVENUE

WEST RIEGO ROAD

HUGHES RD

HUGHES ROAD

MACKERT ROAD

EAST BUTTE RD

PELGER ROAD

SUBACO RD

PLEASANT GROVE RD

KIRKVILLE RD

KIRKVILLE RD

PENNINGTON RD

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