County profile · official public datasets

Pawnee County, OK

174 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 46.6% rated Good, 34.5% Fair, 19% Poor.

174
Public bridges: 46.6%
Good condition: 19%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

72nd
of 77 on Poor share: 19%
Poor-condition share: 174
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Pawnee County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pawnee County ranks #72 of 77 Oklahoma counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 19%). Pawnee County, Oklahoma contains 174 public highway bridges. Roughly 46.6% are rated “Good,” 34.5% “Fair,” and 19% “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

174

Public highway bridges in Pawnee County

Good condition

46.6%

81 of 174 rated 7-9

Fair condition

34.5%

60 of 174 rated 5-6

Poor condition

19%

33 of 174 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#72 of 77

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

Condition distribution

Share of 174 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

46.6% (81)

Fair

34.5% (60)

Poor

19% (33)

Pawnee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,140 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 19% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 186 crossings a day against 2,076 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 174 of 174 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

51.1% of Pawnee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

89 of the 174 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 46.6% 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 35.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

S.H. 18 over BLACK BEAR CREEK, built 1954, carries 2,200 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 6,140 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

11
1930s

22
1940s

12
1950s

8
1960s

5
1970s

42
1980s

12
1990s

20
2000s

6
2010s

28
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 42 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Oklahoma average (1977).

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

The 5 Oklahoma counties nearest Pawnee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 19% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Pawnee County and the 5 Oklahoma counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Beaver County	189	32.3%	66.7%	1.1%	1976
Craig County	180	33.3%	47.2%	19.4%	1970
Pawnee County (this page)	174	46.6%	34.5%	19%	1975
Dewey County	169	86.4%	13%	0.6%	1983
Woodward County	168	36.3%	59.5%	4.2%	1980
Delaware County	160	34.4%	47.5%	18.1%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OK (174 bridges here).

Hempstead County, AR · 174 bridges
Eagle County, CO · 174 bridges
Washington County, IN · 174 bridges
Lac qui Parle County, MN · 174 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OK (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 174 Good 81 Fair 60 Poor 33

All bridges (174)

Sort:

Pawnee County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pawnee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,140 vehicle crossings a day

51.1% of Pawnee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pawnee 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 (174)

E0340

N3600

N3520

N3370

E0530

N3590

N3680

E0390

E0353

E0440

N3650

E0453

D0550

N3520

E0575

U.S. 64

N3590

E0560

S.H. 99

CO. RD. N3620

N3660

U.S. 64

N3650

CO. RD. N3550

E0430

N3540

N3530

U.S. 64

N3540

CIMARRON TP

N3480

N3500

N3364

CIMARRON TP

N3485

296TH W.AVE.

E0465 (KANSAS ST.)

S.H. 99

U.S. 64

U.S. 64

E0560

5922C

E0410

KEYSTONE RD.

U.S. 64

CIMARRON TP

U.S. 64

S.H. 18

E0570

E0470

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