County profile · official public datasets

Douglas County, OR

699 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34% rated Good, 62.8% Fair, 3.1% Poor.

699
Public bridges: 34%
Good condition: 3.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Douglas County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.

Top 44%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.1%
Poor-condition share: 699
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Douglas County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Douglas County ranks #16 of 36 Oregon counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.1%). Douglas County, Oregon contains 699 public highway bridges. Roughly 34% are rated “Good,” 62.8% “Fair,” and 3.1% “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

699

Public highway bridges in Douglas County

Good condition

34%

238 of 699 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.8%

439 of 699 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.1%

22 of 699 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#16 of 36

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

Condition distribution

Share of 699 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34% (238)

Fair

62.8% (439)

Poor

3.1% (22)

Douglas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 29,730 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,351 crossings a day against 1,156 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 698 of 699 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

60.4% of Douglas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

422 of the 699 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 34% 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 26.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

COUNTY RD 167 over S UMPQUA RIVER/CONN FORD, built 1964, carries 7,850 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 22-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 29,730 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

11
1930s

13
1940s

15
1950s

151
1960s

178
1970s

103
1980s

84
1990s

29
2000s

80
2010s

25
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 178 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Oregon average (1975).

How Douglas County compares with Oregon's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Oregon counties nearest Douglas County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.1% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 35 Oregon counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Douglas County and the 5 Oregon counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Lane County	1,010	33%	65.5%	1.5%	1975
Douglas County (this page)	699	34%	62.8%	3.1%	1973
Linn County	566	20.8%	61.5%	17.7%	1971
Multnomah County	473	11.8%	85.2%	3%	1967
Jackson County	401	34.2%	64.3%	1.5%	1976
Marion County	373	21.2%	74.5%	4.3%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OR (699 bridges here).

Bucks County, PA · 699 bridges
Ellis County, TX · 691 bridges
Madison County, AL · 710 bridges
Montgomery County, TX · 710 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OR (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 699 Good 238 Fair 439 Poor 22

Fair-condition bridges (439)

Sort:

Douglas County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Douglas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 29,730 vehicle crossings a day

60.4% of Douglas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 26.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Douglas County compares with Oregon's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Fair-condition bridges (439)

I-5 (HWY 001)

OR 42 (HWY 035)

COUNTY RD 83

OR 38 (HWY 045)

ROAD

ROAD

SMITH R RD #48

COUNTY RD 5

COUNTY RD 6

32 S 04 W 01.00:

OR 99 (HWY 234)

US101(HWY009)

I-5 (HWY 001) NB

COUNTY RD 200

COUNTY RD 6

ROAD

ROAD

COUNTY RD 20

I-5 (HWY 001) SB

SKELLEY RD #71

COUNTY RD 5

TILLER-TRAIL HWY

COUNTY RD 386

24 S 06 W 07.01:

29 S 08 W 01.00:

OR 42 (HWY 035)

I-5 (HWY 001) SB

25 S 07 W 05.01:

ROAD

SCOTTSBURG W RD

OR 138 (HWY 231)

20 S 09 W 27.01:

23 S 09 W 24.01:

WOODS CR RD

METZ HILL ROAD

I-5 (HWY 001) SB

I-5 (HWY 001)

COUNTY RD 82

COUNTY RD 83

COUNTY RD 120A

OR 138 (HWY 231)

I-5 (HWY 001) NB

I-5 (HWY 001) SB

NO.MYRTLE RD CR#15

COUNTY RD 37

OR 138 (HWY 138)

WEAVER ROAD

US101(HWY009)

ROAD

20 S 11 W 36.00:

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