Total bridges
285
Public highway bridges in Washington County
County profile · official public datasets
Washington County, LA
285 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.2% rated Good, 44.2% Fair, 11.6% Poor.
- 285
- Public bridges
- 44.2%
- Good condition
- 11.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Washington County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 38th
- of 64 on Poor share
- 11.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 285
- public highway bridges
- 1979
- 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.
Washington County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Washington County ranks #38 of 64 Louisiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.6%). Washington County, Louisiana contains 285 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.2% are rated “Good,” 44.2% “Fair,” and 11.6% “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.
Good condition
44.2%
126 of 285 rated 7-9
Fair condition
44.2%
126 of 285 rated 5-6
Poor condition
11.6%
33 of 285 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#38 of 64
Among Louisiana counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 285 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 44.2% (126)
Fair 44.2% (126)
Poor 11.6% (33)
Washington County's Poor-condition bridges carry 27,114 vehicle crossings a day
That is 4.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 822 crossings a day against 2,176 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 282 of 285 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
49.8% of Washington County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
142 of the 285 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 44.2% 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 11.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
Penton road over MILE BR., built 1970, carries 3,200 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 33-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 27,114 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Washington County's bridges were built
285 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 9
1930–1939
9 bridges
- 1940s 7
1940–1949
7 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
37 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
70 bridges
- 1970s 27
1970–1979
27 bridges
- 1980s 24
1980–1989
24 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
50 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
30 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
31 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 70 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Louisiana average (1982).
How Washington County compares with Louisiana's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Louisiana counties nearest Washington County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.6% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 63 Louisiana counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Landry County | 317 | 43.2% | 49.2% | 7.6% | 1980 |
| Natchitoches County | 313 | 46% | 38.7% | 15.3% | 1983 |
| Washington County (this page) | 285 | 44.2% | 44.2% | 11.6% | 1979 |
| Acadia County | 282 | 42.9% | 48.2% | 8.9% | 1978 |
| Bossier County | 270 | 30% | 55.2% | 14.8% | 1983 |
| Vermilion County | 261 | 45.6% | 43.3% | 11.1% | 1985 |
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 Washington 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 Washington County, both outside Louisiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside LA (285 bridges here).
- Platte County, MO · 285 bridges
- Robeson County, NC · 285 bridges
- Haywood County, NC · 286 bridges
- Bryan County, OK · 286 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside LA (1979 here).
- Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
- Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
- Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
- McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (126)
LA0016
FairOver: MILL CREEK
0.1 M NW OF LA 60, Washington, LA
Built 1976 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 2,303
LA0016
FairOver: PIG BRANCH
1.7 M NW OF LA 437, Washington, LA
Built 1976 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 2,087
LA0016
FairOver: BARLOW BRANCH
2.0 M NW OF LA 437, Washington, LA
Built 1976 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 2,087
LA0016
FairOver: WARNER CREEK
2.8 M NW OF LA 437, Washington, LA
Built 1976 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 2,087
LA0016
FairOver: GREEN BRANCH
3.5 M S OF LA 1072, Washington, LA
Built 1972 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 2,087
LA0016
FairOver: RICHARDSON BRANCH
2.3 M S OF LA 1072, Washington, LA
Built 1972 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 2,087
LA0016
FairOver: LAWRENCE CREEK
1.0 M S OF LA 1072, Washington, LA
Built 1972 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 2,087
LA0016
FairOver: GREEN LAKE CR
0.3 M S OF LA 1072, Washington, LA
Built 1972 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 2,087
LA0021
FairOver: PETERS CREEK
LA0021, Washington, LA
Built 1965 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 6,741
LA0021
FairOver: NORTH BRANCH
LA0021, Washington, LA
Built 1965 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 6,741
LA0021
FairOver: DRAIN
0.2 M N OF LA 436, Washington, LA
Built 1965 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 5,485
LA0450
FairOver: CATCA CREEK
5.5 MILES NO OF LA 25, Washington, LA
Built 1998 Load: 44.1 t ADT: 1,822
LA0021
FairOver: BOGGY BRANCH
LA0021, Washington, LA
Built 1965 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 6,741
LA0424
FairOver: WEST FORK CREEK
1.7 MI WEST JCT. LA 62, Washington, LA
Built 1995 Load: 55.3 t ADT: 1,873
LA0038
FairOver: HAYS CREEK
3.0 MI EAST LA 25 INTER., Washington, LA
Built 1996 Load: 56.2 t ADT: 1,706
LA0060
FairOver: MILLER CREEK
2.8M EAST INT LA 16/ENON, Washington, LA
Built 1993 Load: 56.2 t ADT: 704
LA0010
FairOver: STEVENS BRANCH
2.0 MILES EAST OF LA 450, Washington, LA
Built 1990 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 1,478
LA0010
FairOver: GORMAN CREEK
3.5 M EAST OF LA 450, Washington, LA
Built 1991 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 1,478
LA0062
FairOver: WEST FORK CREEK
0.15 MI NO. JCT LA 438, Washington, LA
Built 1996 Load: 58.1 t ADT: 571
Mt. Pisgah Rd
FairOver: SILVER CREEK RELIEF
1.6M SOUTH OF HWY 38, Washington, LA
Built 1989 Load: 60.6 t ADT: 675
LA1072
FairOver: DRAIN
2.12M EAST LA 16, Washington, LA
Built 1992 Load: 74.2 t ADT: 1,105
LA0440
FairOver: DRAIN
0.1 MI. E. LA 1057 INTER., Washington, LA
Built 1998 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 1,360
LA0060
FairOver: DRAIN
4.9M EAST LA 16 @ ENON, Washington, LA
Built 1993 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 749
LA1072
FairOver: DRAIN
6.50M EAST LA 16, Washington, LA
Built 1992 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 1,105
LA0439
FairOver: MILLER BRANCH
ON LA439 5.5MI. S OF LAID, Washington, LA
Built 1964 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 1,235
Main St
FairOver: FOSTER CREEK
0.1 M WEST OF HWY 21, Washington, LA
Built 1991 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 776
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.