Total bridges
450
Public highway bridges in Tehama County
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.
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.
When Tehama County's bridges were built
450 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1910s 21
1910–1919
21 bridges
- 1920s 24
1920–1929
24 bridges
- 1930s 47
1930–1939
47 bridges
- 1940s 37
1940–1949
37 bridges
- 1950s 41
1950–1959
41 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
155 bridges
- 1970s 35
1970–1979
35 bridges
- 1980s 44
1980–1989
44 bridges
- 1990s 15
1990–1999
15 bridges
- 2000s 19
2000–2009
19 bridges
- 2010s 8
2010–2019
8 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
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.
| 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.
Good-condition bridges (166)
MARGUERITE AVENUE
GoodOver: JEWETT CREEK
0.3 MI N OF S AVE, Tehama, CA
Built 1973 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 2,940
GYLE RD
GoodOver: CA NORTHERN RR (CFNR)
3 MI E/O I-5, Tehama, CA
Built 1966 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 600
STATE ROUTE 36
GoodOver: BATTLE CREEK
02-TEH-036-81.48, Tehama, CA
Built 1958 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 1,150
INTERSTATE 5 SB
GoodOver: BRANNIN CREEK
02-TEH-005-R5.50, Tehama, CA
Built 1966 Load: 42.4 t ADT: 12,300
INTERSTATE 5 SB
GoodOver: JEWETT CREEK
02-TEH-005-R8.75, Tehama, CA
Built 1966 Load: 42.8 t ADT: 13,500
INTERSTATE 5 NB
GoodOver: JEWETT CREEK
02-TEH-005-R8.75, Tehama, CA
Built 1966 Load: 43.1 t ADT: 13,500
SAN BENITO AVE
GoodOver: ELDER CREEK
AT WORTHINGTON AVE, Tehama, CA
Built 1950 Load: 44.1 t ADT: 600
PASKENTA RD
GoodOver: WILLOW CREEK
1.6 MI S/O DUSTY WAY, Tehama, CA
Built 1985 Load: 44.7 t ADT: 500
MOLLER AVENUE
GoodOver: MOLLER SLOUGH
WEST OF THIRD AVE, Tehama, CA
Built 1938 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 40
GLENN RD
GoodOver: HOUGHTON CREEK
BUTTE MTN RD, Tehama, CA
Built 1935 Load: 46.7 t ADT: 40
SOUTH AVE
GoodOver: TEHAMA-COLUSA CANAL
3.2 MI E/O ROAD 99W, Tehama, CA
Built 1965 Load: 47.0 t ADT: 3,400
BUENA VISTA AVE
GoodOver: LOS MOLINOS CREEK
0.3 MI N TEHAMA VINA RD, Tehama, CA
Built 1972 Load: 49.2 t ADT: 300
REEDS CREEK ROAD
GoodOver: NORTH FORK REEDS CREEK
3.7 MI W OF WILDER ROAD, Tehama, CA
Built 1978 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 1,660
STATE ROUTE 32
GoodOver: NORTH FORK DEER CREEK
02-TEH-032-24.02, Tehama, CA
Built 1972 Load: 63.2 t ADT: 1,100
Loleta Ave
GoodOver: Tehama-Colusa Canal
NW of Chico, Tehama, CA
Built 1966 Load: 64.8 t ADT: 120
Kirkwood Road
GoodOver: Tehama-Colusa Canal
2 mi S of Corning, Tehama, CA
Built 1966 Load: 64.8 t ADT: 200
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.