County profile · official public datasets

Clearwater County, ID

88 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.2% rated Good, 51.1% Fair, 5.7% Poor.

88
Public bridges: 43.2%
Good condition: 5.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Clearwater 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.

26th
of 44 on Poor share: 5.7%
Poor-condition share: 88
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Clearwater County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Clearwater County ranks #26 of 44 Idaho counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.7%). Clearwater County, Idaho contains 88 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.2% are rated “Good,” 51.1% “Fair,” and 5.7% “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 Clearwater County

Good condition

43.2%

38 of 88 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.1%

45 of 88 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.7%

5 of 88 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#26 of 44

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

Condition distribution

Share of 88 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43.2% (38)

Fair

51.1% (45)

Poor

5.7% (5)

Clearwater County's Poor-condition bridges carry 300 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 60 crossings a day against 258 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 88 of 88 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

63.6% of Clearwater County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

56 of the 88 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 43.2% 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 46.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NO DATA ENTERED over OROFINO CREEK, built 1958, carries 140 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 300 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

1
1940s

5
1950s

16
1960s

24
1970s

18
1980s

5
1990s

2
2000s

6
2010s

8
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 24 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1973, 6 years older than the Idaho average of 1979.

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

The 5 Idaho counties nearest Clearwater County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Clearwater County and the 5 Idaho counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Blaine County	96	25%	71.9%	3.1%	1978
Boise County	88	46.6%	47.7%	5.7%	1978
Clearwater County (this page)	88	43.2%	51.1%	5.7%	1973
Adams County	87	32.2%	57.5%	10.3%	1975
Boundary County	83	32.5%	57.8%	9.6%	1982
Gooding County	80	16.3%	76.3%	7.5%	1965

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ID (88 bridges here).

Chicot County, AR · 88 bridges
Prairie County, AR · 88 bridges
Grand County, CO · 88 bridges
Spalding County, GA · 88 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ID (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 88 Good 38 Fair 45 Poor 5

All bridges (88)

Sort:

Clearwater County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Clearwater County's Poor-condition bridges carry 300 vehicle crossings a day

63.6% of Clearwater County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 46.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Clearwater 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

All bridges (88)

NO DATA ENTERED

CARLE STREET

FDR 105

FROMELT ROAD

FORMELT ROAD

FDR 581

FDR 255

CEMETARY RD

STC4782;GRANGEMONT

FDR 250

MOSCRIP ROAD

FDR 581

NO DATA ENTERED

SH 11

LOWER FORD CRK RD

FOREST STREET

FDR 711

FDR 711

NO DATA ENTERED

FDR 700

NO DATA ENTERED

FDR 711

SH 11

STC4783;DENT BR RD

FDR 295

SH 11

STC4784;FRENCH MTN

FDR 670

NO DATA ENTERED

FDR 5301

BEAVER-N. FK

FDR 250

SH 11

FDR 705

FDR 711

SH 7

FDR 712

SH 7

FDR 247

FDR 737

SH 11

NO DATA ENTERED

FDR 250

NO DATA ENTERED

NO DATA ENTERED

FDR 555

FDR 382

NO DATA ENTERED

STC 4786;JOHNSON

STC4783;DENT BR RD

Related