County profile · official public datasets

Nez Perce County, ID

71 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28.2% rated Good, 69% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

71
Public bridges
28.2%
Good condition
2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 27%
lowest Poor share in state
2.8%
Poor-condition share
71
public highway bridges
1977
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.

Nez Perce County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Nez Perce County ranks #12 of 44 Idaho counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Nez Perce County, Idaho contains 71 public highway bridges. Roughly 28.2% are rated “Good,” 69% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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

71

Public highway bridges in Nez Perce County

Good condition

28.2%

20 of 71 rated 7-9

Fair condition

69%

49 of 71 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

2 of 71 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#12 of 44

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

Condition distribution

Share of 71 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
28.2% (20)
Fair
69% (49)
Poor
2.8% (2)

Nez Perce County's Poor-condition bridges carry 580 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 290 crossings a day against 1,637 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 71 of 71 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

45.1% of Nez Perce County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

32 of the 71 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 28.2% 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 69% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

LENORE GRADE ROAD over CLEARWATER R;LENORE BR., built 1935, carries 400 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 580 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Nez Perce County's bridges were built

71 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 12 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Idaho average (1979).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Idaho counties nearest Nez Perce County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Nez Perce County and the 5 Idaho counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Gooding County 80 7.5%
Madison County 80 0%
Nez Perce County (this page) 71 2.8%
Power County 70 2.9%
Minidoka County 66 0%
Payette County 65 4.6%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ID (71 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ID (1977 here).

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

All 71 Good 20 Fair 49 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (20)

GARDEN GULCH ROAD

Good

Over: LAPWAI CR;GARDEN GULCH

0.7 S. 0.1 E. LAPWAI, Nez Perce, ID

Built 1995 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 230

US 12

Good

Over: APRROACH RD;CATHOLIC CR.

9.3 E. LEWISTON, Nez Perce, ID

Built 1968 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 8,000

SUNNYSIDE BENCH

Good

Over: WHEELER CANYON CREEK

0.8 N. 1.0 E. LENORE, Nez Perce, ID

Built 2013 Load: 30.1 t ADT: 90

SNAKE RVR AVE RAMP

Good

Over: RAMP;SNAKE RIVER;HIGH BR

IN LEWISTON, Nez Perce, ID

Built 1982 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 5,550

CHERRY LANE

Good

Over: CLEARWATER RIVER

2.4 E. MYRTLE, Nez Perce, ID

Built 2023 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 330

MISSION CREEK ROAD

Good

Over: MISSION CREEK

1.0 S. JACQUES SPUR, Nez Perce, ID

Built 2016 Load: 34.3 t ADT: 170

STC4747;BIG CANYON

Good

Over: BEAR CREEK

AT PECK NCL, Nez Perce, ID

Built 2019 Load: 34.7 t ADT: 500

MCGARY GRADE ROAD

Good

Over: POTLACH RIVER

0.8 N. 1.0 E. JULIAETTA, Nez Perce, ID

Built 2016 Load: 35.0 t ADT: 110

US 95

Good

Over: ROCK CREEK

6.3 N. 1.0 E. WINCHESTER, Nez Perce, ID

Built 2022 Load: 35.3 t ADT: 3,800

PHINNEY STREET

Good

Over: LAPWAI CREEK

IN CULDESAC ECL, Nez Perce, ID

Built 1966 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 90

WEB RIDGE ROAD

Good

Over: SWEETWATER CREEK

4.5 SW OF SWEETWATER, Nez Perce, ID

Built 2007 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 10

RIVER ROAD

Good

Over: BEDROCK CREEK;NW.LENORE

0.8 N. 1.8 W. LENORE, Nez Perce, ID

Built 1982 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 100

3501: EAGLE CREEK

Good

Over: Eagle Creek

11 mi S of Zaza Road, Nez Perce, ID

Built 1974 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 25

SH 3

Good

Over: LITTLE POTLATCH CREEK

3.5 S. JULIAETTA, Nez Perce, ID

Built 1988 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 2,200

TOM BEALL ROAD

Good

Over: LAPWAI CREEK

1.0 N. 0.1 E. LAPWAI, Nez Perce, ID

Built 1963 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 80

6TH STREET

Good

Over: LAPWAI CREEK

IN CULDESAC;6TH ST., Nez Perce, ID

Built 1999 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 588

US 12

Good

Over: BIG CANYON CREEK

5.9 W. OROFINO, Nez Perce, ID

Built 1984 Load: 44.5 t ADT: 3,300

US 95

Good

Over: MISSION CREEK

3.2 N. CULDESAC, Nez Perce, ID

Built 1997 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 3,500

WATSON STREET

Good

Over: LAPWAI CREEK

IN CULDESAC; WATSON ST., Nez Perce, ID

Built 2011 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 560

US 95

Good

Over: SWEETWATER CREEK

6.8 N. CULDESAC, Nez Perce, ID

Built 1992 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 3,500

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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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.