County profile · official public datasets

Custer County, OK

384 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 73.2% rated Good, 25.5% Fair, 1.3% Poor.

384
Public bridges: 73.2%
Good condition: 1.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Custer County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 12%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.3%
Poor-condition share: 384
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Custer County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Custer County ranks #9 of 77 Oklahoma counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.3%). Custer County, Oklahoma contains 384 public highway bridges. Roughly 73.2% are rated “Good,” 25.5% “Fair,” and 1.3% “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

384

Public highway bridges in Custer County

Good condition

73.2%

281 of 384 rated 7-9

Fair condition

25.5%

98 of 384 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.3%

5 of 384 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#9 of 77

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

Condition distribution

Share of 384 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

73.2% (281)

Fair

25.5% (98)

Poor

1.3% (5)

Custer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 974 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 195 crossings a day against 1,398 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 384 of 384 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

33.3% of Custer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

128 of the 384 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 73.2% 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 41.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAS 2022 over WASHITA RIVER, built 1982, 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 974 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

5
1930s

30
1940s

12
1950s

39
1960s

41
1970s

2
1980s

87
1990s

66
2000s

57
2010s

34
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 87 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1982, 5 years newer than the Oklahoma average of 1977.

How Custer County compares with Oklahoma's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Oklahoma counties nearest Custer County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.3% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 76 Oklahoma counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Custer County and the 5 Oklahoma counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Muskogee County	398	37.7%	52.3%	10.1%	1971
Creek County	395	40.5%	38.7%	20.8%	1972
Alfalfa County	387	27.4%	66.1%	6.5%	1988
Payne County	384	24%	65.6%	10.4%	1982
Custer County (this page)	384	73.2%	25.5%	1.3%	1982
Stephens County	382	29.1%	68.1%	2.9%	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 Custer 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 Custer County, both outside Oklahoma so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OK (384 bridges here).

Bristol County, MA · 384 bridges
Lee County, MS · 385 bridges
Hillsborough County, NH · 385 bridges
Trumbull County, OH · 383 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OK (1982 here).

Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges
Broward County, FL · avg 1982 · 686 bridges

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

All 384 Good 281 Fair 98 Poor 5

Good-condition bridges (281)

Sort:

Custer County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Custer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 974 vehicle crossings a day

33.3% of Custer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 41.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Custer County compares with Oklahoma's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Good-condition bridges (281)

S.H. 44

I-40 EB

I-40 WB

N2330

N2070

WASHINGTON ST.

IRR N2270

E0900

E1070

N2280

S.H. 33

E0860

S.H. 44

E0920

E0910

2048C

E0870

E0840

E0880

PARKERSBURG RD.

E0900

N2320

E0980

E0950

N2080

IRR E0990 FAS 2002

IRR E0880

N2420

E0880

S.H. 47

FAS 2020

U.S. 183

E0880

S.H. 34

S.H. 34

E0980

N2260

E0890

E0860

N2060

E0890

I-40 BUS.

N2270

E1020

N2160

E1030

S.H. 34

S.H. 34

N2280

E0900

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