County profile · official public datasets

Nowata County, OK

126 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.4% rated Good, 42.9% Fair, 12.7% Poor.

126
Public bridges: 44.4%
Good condition: 12.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Nowata County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

66th
of 77 on Poor share: 12.7%
Poor-condition share: 126
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Nowata County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Nowata County ranks #66 of 77 Oklahoma counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.7%). Nowata County, Oklahoma contains 126 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.4% are rated “Good,” 42.9% “Fair,” and 12.7% “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

126

Public highway bridges in Nowata County

Good condition

44.4%

56 of 126 rated 7-9

Fair condition

42.9%

54 of 126 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.7%

16 of 126 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#66 of 77

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

Condition distribution

Share of 126 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.4% (56)

Fair

42.9% (54)

Poor

12.7% (16)

Nowata County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,951 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 559 crossings a day against 1,319 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 126 of 126 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46% of Nowata County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

58 of the 126 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 44.4% 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 76% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

U.S. 169 over CREEK, built 1937, carries 6,800 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,951 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

17
1940s

11
1950s

6
1960s

18
1970s

6
1980s

10
1990s

11
2000s

17
2010s

20
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Oklahoma average (1977).

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

The 5 Oklahoma counties nearest Nowata County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Nowata County and the 5 Oklahoma counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Adair County	139	35.3%	50.4%	14.4%	1970
Love County	133	42.1%	56.4%	1.5%	1977
Murray County	129	46.5%	51.2%	2.3%	1976
Harper County	128	33.6%	64.8%	1.6%	1975
Nowata County (this page)	126	44.4%	42.9%	12.7%	1980
Texas County	111	40.5%	58.6%	0.9%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OK (126 bridges here).

Bibb County, AL · 126 bridges
Coosa County, AL · 126 bridges
Lawrence County, AR · 126 bridges
Coffee County, GA · 126 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OK (1980 here).

Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges
Hinds County, MS · avg 1980 · 663 bridges

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

All 126 Good 56 Fair 54 Poor 16

All bridges (126)

Sort:

5320C

Fair

Over: FOUR MILE CREEK

12.5 MI SW OF NOWATA, Nowata, OK

Built 1959 Load: 51.3 t ADT: 100

5304C

Fair

Over: ROCK CREEK

11.3 MI NE OF SH 10, Nowata, OK

Built 1997 Load: 51.5 t ADT: 50

U.S. 169

Fair

Over: VINEGER CREEK

18.3 MI N JCT US 60, Nowata, OK

Built 1962 Load: 60.0 t ADT: 5,700

E0160

Fair

Over: WOLF CREEK

6.5 MI NW OF 169, Nowata, OK

Nowata County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Nowata County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,951 vehicle crossings a day

46% of Nowata County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 76% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Nowata 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

All bridges (126)

5320C

5304C

U.S. 169

E0160

S.H. 28

E0095

U.S. 169

S.H. 10

S.H. 10

S.H. 28

U.S. 60

U.S. 60

U.S. 169

N4140

E0150

N4060

E0190

S.H. 28

S.H. 28

N4230

N4100

U.S. 169

N4060

U.S. 169

N4090

N4050

U.S. 169

N4060

E0090

N4175

N4080

N4060 (5328C)

E0120

S.H. 10

5342C

N4130

E0190

S.H. 28

U.S. 169

E0110

U.S. 169

S.H. 28

E0140

E0160

E0170

U.S. 169

U.S. 60

E0250

U.S. 169

U.S. 60

Related