Total bridges
589
Public highway bridges in Tulare County
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.
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.
When Tulare County's bridges were built
589 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 9
1910–1919
9 bridges
- 1920s 20
1920–1929
20 bridges
- 1930s 54
1930–1939
54 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
144 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
135 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
98 bridges
- 1970s 56
1970–1979
56 bridges
- 1980s 17
1980–1989
17 bridges
- 1990s 11
1990–1999
11 bridges
- 2000s 16
2000–2009
16 bridges
- 2010s 24
2010–2019
24 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
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.
| 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.
Fair-condition bridges (319)
RICHGROVE DRIVE
FairOver: WHITE RIVER
1.8 MI S OF AVE 56, Tulare, CA
Built 1931 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 425
GENERALS HIGHWAY (
FairOver: MARBLE FORK KAWEAH RIVER
21.6 MI. NORTH OF ASH MOU, Tulare, CA
Built 1930 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 662
RD 196 (KAWEAH AV)
FairOver: ST JOHNS RIVER
4.0 MI N OF SR 198, Tulare, CA
Built 1921 Load: 41.1 t ADT: 4,300
ROAD 144(MCAULIFF)
FairOver: ST JOHNS RIVER
0.5 MI N OF SR 216, Tulare, CA
Built 1951 Load: 41.1 t ADT: 2,275
ROAD 112
FairOver: NORTH BRANCH TULE RIVER
0.25 MI N OF AVE 176, Tulare, CA
Built 1962 Load: 41.5 t ADT: 475
ROAD 180
FairOver: PACKWOOD CREEK
0.1 MI S OF AVE 312, Tulare, CA
Built 1954 Load: 41.5 t ADT: 550
22S82
FairOver: 22S82/BONE CREEK
NO DATA ENTERED, Tulare, CA
Built 1958 Load: 43.1 t ADT: 174
GENERALS HIGHWAY (
FairOver: HALSTEAD MEADOW
3.6 MILES WEST OF LODGEPO, Tulare, CA
Built 2012 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 662
22S82
FairOver: 22S82/NOBE YOUNG CREEK
NO DATA ENTERED, Tulare, CA
Built 1958 Load: 47.3 t ADT: 174
STATE ROUTE 201
FairOver: GOLF CART PATH
06-TUL-201-R1.87, Tulare, CA
Built 1964 Load: 48.9 t ADT: 5,800
ROAD 172
FairOver: COTTONWOOD CREEK
0.25 MI N OF AVE 356, Tulare, CA
Built 1973 Load: 48.9 t ADT: 1,000
LASPINA ST(RD 112)
FairOver: ELK BAYOU
NORTH OF D109A, Tulare, CA
Built 1984 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 300
STATE ROUTE 190
FairOver: SOUTH FORK TULE RIVER
06-TUL-190-23.86, Tulare, CA
Built 1958 Load: 56.4 t ADT: 5,600
DISNEY PARKING ROA
FairOver: EAST FORK KAWEAH RIVER
24 MI. EAST OF JCT. HWY., Tulare, CA
Built 2013 Load: 57.1 t ADT: 20
Ave. 456
FairOver: Friant-Kern Canal
SE Orange Cove, Tulare, CA
Built 1948 Load: 60.3 t ADT: 50
STATE ROUTE 201
FairOver: COTTONWOOD CREEK
06-TUL-201-23.82, Tulare, CA
Built 1970 Load: 62.2 t ADT: 2,800
ROAD 140
FairOver: TULARE IRRIG DIST CANAL
INTERSECTION WITH AVE 272, Tulare, CA
Built 1948 Load: 63.5 t ADT: 2,450
ROAD 168
FairOver: MIDDLE FORK TULE RIVER
0.8 MI N OF AVE 168, Tulare, CA
Built 1980 Load: 71.9 t ADT: 375
SM 220
FairOver: NORTH FORK TULE RIVER
0.1 MI BALCH PARK RD, Tulare, CA
Built 1977 Load: 72.3 t ADT: 175
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.