County profile · official public datasets

Benewah County, ID

47 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 21.3% rated Good, 74.5% Fair, 4.3% Poor.

47
Public bridges: 21.3%
Good condition: 4.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Benewah County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

Top 45%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.3%
Poor-condition share: 47
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Benewah County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Benewah County ranks #20 of 44 Idaho counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.3%). Benewah County, Idaho contains 47 public highway bridges. Roughly 21.3% are rated “Good,” 74.5% “Fair,” and 4.3% “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

Public highway bridges in Benewah County

Good condition

21.3%

10 of 47 rated 7-9

Fair condition

74.5%

35 of 47 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.3%

2 of 47 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#20 of 44

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

Condition distribution

Share of 47 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

21.3% (10)

Fair

74.5% (35)

Poor

4.3% (2)

Benewah County's Poor-condition bridges carry 490 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 245 crossings a day against 1,052 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 47 of 47 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

36.2% of Benewah County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

17 of the 47 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 21.3% 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 71.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IRR BIA RTE 11 over LITTLE HANGMAN CREEK, built 1977, carries 350 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 490 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

3
1930s

1
1940s

2
1950s

2
1960s

6
1970s

15
1980s

2
1990s

3
2000s

2
2010s

5
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 15 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Idaho average (1979).

How Benewah County compares with Idaho's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Idaho counties nearest Benewah County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.3% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 43 Idaho counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Benewah County and the 5 Idaho counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Gem County	57	28.1%	70.2%	1.8%	1976
Lincoln County	53	18.9%	58.5%	22.6%	1973
Owyhee County	48	31.3%	60.4%	8.3%	1975
Benewah County (this page)	47	21.3%	74.5%	4.3%	1978
Caribou County	45	26.7%	66.7%	6.7%	1985
Clark County	40	22.5%	65%	12.5%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ID (47 bridges here).

Juneau City and County, AK · 47 bridges
Jackson County, CO · 47 bridges
Ben Hill County, GA · 47 bridges
Long County, GA · 47 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ID (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 47 Good 10 Fair 35 Poor 2

Fair-condition bridges (35)

Sort:

Benewah County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Benewah County's Poor-condition bridges carry 490 vehicle crossings a day

36.2% of Benewah County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 71.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Benewah County compares with Idaho'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 (35)

STC5703;SANDERS RD

STC5703;SANDERS RD

ERICKSON RD

STC5722;CHATCOLET

FS ROUTE NO. 447

FS ROUTE NO. 447

CRABB ROAD

STC5705;BENEWAH CR

IRR BIA RTE 32

IRR BIA RTE 10

IRR BIA RTE 24

OLD MILL ROAD

SH 3

STC5705;BENEWAH CR

STC5705;BENEWAH CR

US 95

RAILROAD GRADE RD

SH 3

OLD COUNTY ROAD

SH 6

US 95

SH 5

RAILROAD GRADE RD

OLD COUNTY ROAD

SH 3

SH 5

US 95

SH 3

RAILROAD GRADE RD

COUNTY RD; FR 754

SH 3

WADDELL ROAD

BARTLETT ROAD

RAILROAD GRADE RD

SH 3

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