County profile · official public datasets

Tehama County, CA

450 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.9% rated Good, 56.2% Fair, 6.9% Poor.

450
Public bridges: 36.9%
Good condition: 6.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Tehama County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

30th
of 58 on Poor share: 6.9%
Poor-condition share: 450
public highway bridges: 1961
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.

Tehama County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Tehama County ranks #30 of 58 California counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.9%). Tehama County, California contains 450 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.9% are rated “Good,” 56.2% “Fair,” and 6.9% “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

450

Public highway bridges in Tehama County

Good condition

36.9%

166 of 450 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56.2%

253 of 450 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.9%

31 of 450 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#30 of 58

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

Condition distribution

Share of 450 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

36.9% (166)

Fair

56.2% (253)

Poor

6.9% (31)

Tehama County's Poor-condition bridges carry 70,056 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,260 crossings a day against 5,157 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 450 of 450 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

78.2% of Tehama County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

352 of the 450 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 36.9% 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 42.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

INTERSTATE 5 over THOMES CREEK, built 2011, carries 29,500 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 31-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 70,056 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

21
1920s

24
1930s

47
1940s

37
1950s

41
1960s

155
1970s

35
1980s

44
1990s

15
2000s

19
2010s

8
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 155 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 34.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1961, 9 years older than the California average of 1970.

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

The 5 California counties nearest Tehama County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1961 against a peer-group mean of 1968 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Tehama County and the 5 California counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Shasta County	492	47.6%	49.4%	3%	1967
Tehama County (this page)	450	36.9%	56.2%	6.9%	1961
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	418	51.4%	42.8%	5.7%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CA (450 bridges here).

Berkshire County, MA · 450 bridges
Delaware County, NY · 450 bridges
Lincoln County, OK · 450 bridges
Washington County, AR · 449 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CA (1961 here).

Westchester County, NY · avg 1961 · 774 bridges
Schuylkill County, PA · avg 1961 · 368 bridges
Columbiana County, OH · avg 1961 · 321 bridges

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

All 450 Good 166 Fair 253 Poor 31

Fair-condition bridges (253)

Sort:

Tehama County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Tehama County's Poor-condition bridges carry 70,056 vehicle crossings a day

78.2% of Tehama County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 42.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Tehama 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 (253)

WOODLAND AVE

WOODSON AVE

PASKENTA ROAD

PETTYJOHN ROAD

LASSEN ROAD

ADOBE RD

HESSE RD

PLUM CREEK RD

LUCE GINSWOLD ROAD

LEININGER ROAD

CRAIG AVENUE

PECAN LANE

FREEMAN SCH HSE RD

LOWREY ROAD

HOUGHTON AVE

BUTTE MOUNTAIN RD

STATE ROUTE 32

STATE ROUTE 36

OSBORN RD

STATE ROUTE 99

BOWMAN RD

RAWSON RD

HOOKER CREEK ROAD

STATE ROUTE 36

FINNELL AVE

HOGSBACK ROAD

WISCONSIN AVE

ROAD 99W

RAWSON RD

ROWLES ROAD

KANSAS AVENUE

SACRAMENTO AVE

STATE ROUTE 36

MANTON RD

OLD HWY 99 W

MAIN ST

CAPAY RD

RAWSON RD

NEWVILLE RD

STATE ROUTE 36

INTERSTATE 5 SB

INTERSTATE 5 NB

STATE ROUTE 36

INTERSTATE 5 NB

GYLE ROAD

FORWARD ROAD

RAWSON ROAD

OLD HWY 99 W

OLD HWY 99 W

BOWMAN RD

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