County profile · official public datasets

Tulare County, CA

589 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.4% rated Good, 54.2% Fair, 3.4% Poor.

589
Public bridges: 42.4%
Good condition: 3.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Tulare County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 14%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.4%
Poor-condition share: 589
public highway bridges: 1959
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.

Tulare County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Tulare County ranks #8 of 58 California counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.4%). Tulare County, California contains 589 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.4% are rated “Good,” 54.2% “Fair,” and 3.4% “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

589

Public highway bridges in Tulare County

Good condition

42.4%

250 of 589 rated 7-9

Fair condition

54.2%

319 of 589 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.4%

20 of 589 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#8 of 58

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

Condition distribution

Share of 589 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.4% (250)

Fair

54.2% (319)

Poor

3.4% (20)

Tulare County's Poor-condition bridges carry 50,800 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,540 crossings a day against 6,277 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 589 of 589 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

84% of Tulare County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

495 of the 589 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 42.4% 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 42.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STATE ROUTE 99 NB over N BRANCH TULE RIVER, built 1949, carries 21,500 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 20-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 50,800 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

9
1920s

20
1930s

54
1940s

144
1950s

135
1960s

98
1970s

56
1980s

17
1990s

11
2000s

16
2010s

24
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1940s, when 144 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 75 to 84 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1959, 11 years older than the California average of 1970.

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

The 5 California counties nearest Tulare County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.4% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1959 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is 11 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Tulare County and the 5 California counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Alameda County	658	35.3%	55.2%	9.6%	1973
San Joaquin County	644	33.7%	57.1%	9.2%	1968
Contra Costa County	618	42.6%	46.9%	10.5%	1977
Sonoma County	609	24.1%	69%	6.9%	1967
Tulare County (this page)	589	42.4%	54.2%	3.4%	1959
Merced County	528	32.2%	59.5%	8.3%	1967

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CA (589 bridges here).

Dane County, WI · 590 bridges
Knox County, TN · 588 bridges
Butler County, KS · 591 bridges
McPherson County, KS · 586 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CA (1959 here).

Barton County, KS · avg 1959 · 449 bridges
Nassau County, NY · avg 1959 · 328 bridges
Marion County, KS · avg 1959 · 324 bridges
Hampshire County, MA · avg 1959 · 259 bridges

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

All 589 Good 250 Fair 319 Poor 20

Fair-condition bridges (319)

Sort:

Tulare County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Tulare County's Poor-condition bridges carry 50,800 vehicle crossings a day

84% of Tulare County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 42.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Tulare 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 (319)

STATE ROUTE 99 NB

CHINOWTH

STATE ROUTE 63

M56 (HOT SPRGS RD)

AVE 184 (OCTOL AV)

ROAD 140

IRR BIA RTE 70

CRYSTAL CAVE ROAD

AVE 220

AVE 264

STATE ROUTE 99 SB

ROAD 152

ROAD 148

STATE ROUTE 198

ROAD 56

RD 208

AVE 240

LODGEPOLE CAMPGROU

AVE 280

STATE ROUTE 198

M 220

DIAGONAL ROAD 92B

AVE 144

ROAD 128

AVE 108

COUNTY RD D112

AVE 416 (CR J40)

STATE ROUTE 99 NB

S99-J ST&J ST-N99

STATE ROUTE 99 SB

STATE ROUTE 201

STATE ROUTE 137

STATE ROUTE 99

STATE ROUTE 99

K ST

AVE 184

ROAD 192

ROAD 96(PRATT ST)

ROAD 140

AVE 256

RD 164 (FRMSVL BL)

ROAD 68

AVE 280

AVE 280

ROAD 196

VILLA ST

ROAD 16

ROAD 32

ROAD 202

ROAD D76 (CAMP DR)

Related