County profile · official public datasets

Payette County, ID

65 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 13.8% rated Good, 81.5% Fair, 4.6% Poor.

65
Public bridges: 13.8%
Good condition: 4.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Payette County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 48%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.6%
Poor-condition share: 65
public highway bridges: 1970
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.

Payette County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Payette County ranks #21 of 44 Idaho counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.6%). Payette County, Idaho contains 65 public highway bridges. Roughly 13.8% are rated “Good,” 81.5% “Fair,” and 4.6% “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 Payette County

Good condition

13.8%

9 of 65 rated 7-9

Fair condition

81.5%

53 of 65 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.6%

3 of 65 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#21 of 44

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

Condition distribution

Share of 65 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

13.8% (9)

Fair

81.5% (53)

Poor

4.6% (3)

Payette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,980 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,660 crossings a day against 5,588 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 65 of 65 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

70.8% of Payette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

46 of the 65 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 13.8% 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 96.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 52 over SNAKE RIVER;PAYETTE BR., built 1953, carries 4,800 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,980 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1940s

1
1950s

11
1960s

30
1970s

8
1980s

1
1990s

6
2000s

4
2010s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 30 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 46.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1970, 9 years older than the Idaho average of 1979.

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

The 5 Idaho counties nearest Payette County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Payette County and the 5 Idaho counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Nez Perce County	71	28.2%	69%	2.8%	1977
Power County	70	28.6%	68.6%	2.9%	1973
Minidoka County	66	28.8%	71.2%	0%	1983
Payette County (this page)	65	13.8%	81.5%	4.6%	1970
Camas County	61	27.9%	62.3%	9.8%	1978
Gem County	57	28.1%	70.2%	1.8%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ID (65 bridges here).

Marion County, AR · 65 bridges
Newton County, AR · 65 bridges
Searcy County, AR · 65 bridges
Sierra County, CA · 65 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ID (1970 here).

Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges

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

All 65 Good 9 Fair 53 Poor 3

All bridges (65)

Sort:

Payette County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Payette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,980 vehicle crossings a day

70.8% of Payette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 96.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Payette 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 (65)

SE 2ND AVENUE

1ST AVE S.

ELGIN ROAD

CASSIA ROAD

CUSTER ROAD

SW 3 1/2 AVE

SUCKER CREEK ROAD

KILLEBREW DRIVE

SMA 8803;6TH AVE

US 30 EBL SPUR

STC8783;CENTER AVE

HOLLY ST.

ELGIN ROAD

OASIS ROAD

STC3857;SND HOLLOW

STC 3830;DALLAS RD

STC 3830;FREEMONT

STC8843;NE 10TH AV

ADAMS ROAD

SE 3RD AVENUE

S.E. 3RD AVENUE

IOWA AVENUE

US 30

SH 52

DRY CREEK ROAD

SH 52

STC3854;BLK BRDG

ELGIN ROAD

US 30

STC3857;SND HOLLOW

US 95

I 84 EBL

I 84 WBL

ELMORE AVENUE

US 30

US 30

US 95

FIRST ST.SOUTH

BLACK CANYON ROAD

I 84 WBL

SE 4TH AVENUE

SH 52

STONE QUARRY

BRILL ROAD

I 84 EBL

SH 52

SH 52

S.E. 10TH AVENUE

I 84 WBL

SH 52

Related