County profile · official public datasets

Ventura County, CA

501 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.7% rated Good, 40.1% Fair, 4.2% Poor.

501
Public bridges: 55.7%
Good condition: 4.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Ventura County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.

Top 21%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.2%
Poor-condition share: 501
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Ventura County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ventura County ranks #12 of 58 California counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.2%). Ventura County, California contains 501 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.7% are rated “Good,” 40.1% “Fair,” and 4.2% “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

501

Public highway bridges in Ventura County

Good condition

55.7%

279 of 501 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40.1%

201 of 501 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.2%

21 of 501 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#12 of 58

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

Condition distribution

Share of 501 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

55.7% (279)

Fair

40.1% (201)

Poor

4.2% (21)

Ventura County's Poor-condition bridges carry 805,939 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 38,378 crossings a day against 27,546 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 501 of 501 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

69.9% of Ventura County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

350 of the 501 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 55.7% 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 23.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

U.S. HIGHWAY 101 over HAMPSHIRE RD, built 1966, carries 193,000 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 21-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 805,939 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

5
1920s

11
1930s

24
1940s

16
1950s

57
1960s

144
1970s

123
1980s

42
1990s

39
2000s

29
2010s

10
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 144 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1969) matches the California average (1970).

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

The 5 California counties nearest Ventura County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1964 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ventura County and the 5 California counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Merced County	528	32.2%	59.5%	8.3%	1967
Ventura County (this page)	501	55.7%	40.1%	4.2%	1969
Shasta County	492	47.6%	49.4%	3%	1967
Tehama County	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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CA (501 bridges here).

Cochise County, AZ · 501 bridges
Lake County, IN · 501 bridges
Snohomish County, WA · 500 bridges
Garfield County, OK · 504 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CA (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Somerset County, PA · avg 1969 · 454 bridges
Lewis County, WA · avg 1969 · 419 bridges

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

All 501 Good 279 Fair 201 Poor 21

Fair-condition bridges (201)

Sort:

Ventura County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ventura County's Poor-condition bridges carry 805,939 vehicle crossings a day

69.9% of Ventura County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 23.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ventura 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 (201)

STATE ROUTE 118

CARNE RD

FIRST ST OC

SYCAMORE RD

STATE ROUTE 1

ALAMO STREET

SULPHUR MOUTAIN RD

S MOUNTAIN RD

SR 1

STATE ROUTE 126 EB

CANADA LARGA RD

WHEELER CYN RD

U.S. HIGHWAY 101

MAIN ST

GRAND AVE

PIRU CANYON ROAD

STATE ROUTE 23

SR 1 SB

S33-S101 CONNECTOR

CASITAS VISTA RD

ARUNDELL CIRCLE

COCHRAN STREET

SANTA ANA BLVD

GORHAM RD

CAMINO CIELO

CLARA ST

CYPRESS ROAD

FITZGERALD RD

ALSCOT AVENUE

NELDA STREET

KUEHNER DRIVE

U.S. HIGHWAY 101

STATE ROUTE 126

STATE ROUTE 126

MAIN ROAD

STATE ROUTE 126 WB

STATE ROUTE 126 EB

BRIGGS ROAD

SYCAMORE DRIVE

STATE ROUTE 126 WB

STATE ROUTE 126

LAS POSAS RD

DEL NORTE BLVD

PECK ROAD

STATE ROUTE 150

STATE ROUTE 33

STATE ROUTE 1 SB

ROCKY PEAK RD

STATE ROUTE 23

STATE ROUTE 1 NB

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