County profile · official public datasets

Harney County, OR

130 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 54.6% rated Good, 43.1% Fair, 2.3% Poor.

130
Public bridges: 54.6%
Good condition: 2.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Harney 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 22%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.3%
Poor-condition share: 130
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Harney County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Harney County ranks #8 of 36 Oregon counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.3%). Harney County, Oregon contains 130 public highway bridges. Roughly 54.6% are rated “Good,” 43.1% “Fair,” and 2.3% “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

130

Public highway bridges in Harney County

Good condition

54.6%

71 of 130 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.1%

56 of 130 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.3%

3 of 130 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#8 of 36

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

Condition distribution

Share of 130 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

54.6% (71)

Fair

43.1% (56)

Poor

2.3% (3)

Harney County's Poor-condition bridges carry 312 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 104 crossings a day against 475 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 128 of 130 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

34.6% of Harney County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

45 of the 130 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 54.6% 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 43.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SOUTH HARNEY ROAD over SILVER CREEK, built 1975, carries 137 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 312 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1940s

3
1950s

8
1960s

15
1970s

31
1980s

15
1990s

26
2000s

21
2010s

8
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 10 years newer than the Oregon average of 1975.

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

The 5 Oregon counties nearest Harney County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.3% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Harney County and the 5 Oregon counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Yamhill County	149	24.2%	71.1%	4.7%	1975
Wasco County	148	31.8%	60.1%	8.1%	1968
Grant County	144	45.1%	49.3%	5.6%	1980
Harney County (this page)	130	54.6%	43.1%	2.3%	1985
Columbia County	126	32.5%	58.7%	8.7%	1978
Wallowa County	115	53.9%	37.4%	8.7%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OR (130 bridges here).

Kit Carson County, CO · 130 bridges
Bay County, FL · 130 bridges
Lowndes County, GA · 130 bridges
Whitfield County, GA · 130 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OR (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 130 Good 71 Fair 56 Poor 3

Fair-condition bridges (56)

Sort:

Harney County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Harney County's Poor-condition bridges carry 312 vehicle crossings a day

34.6% of Harney County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 43.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Harney 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 (56)

POTTER SWAMP ROAD

BRENTON CABIN ROAD

CENTER PATROL ROAD

C138 SILVER CR RD

PATROL ROAD

B472 LAVA BED ROAD

B474CRANE BUCHANAN

B484 CRANE VENATOR

DIAMOND-GRAIN CAMP

CENTER PATROL ROAD

CENTER PATROL ROAD

US 20 (HWY 007)

C409 DIAMOND CP RD

CENTER PATROL ROAD

C110 EMBREE BR. RD

B470 CATLOW VALLEY

C138 SILVER CR RD

C116 RED BARN LN

C140 BEST LANE

C140 BEST LANE

C138 SILVER CR RD

LAWEN LANE

C409 DIAMOND CP RD

DIAMOND-GRAIN CAMP

Sod House Ln

OLIVER SPRINGS RD

C409 DIAMOND CP RD

ISLAND RANCH ROAD

B472 LAVA BED ROAD

US 395 (HWY 048)

US 20 (HWY 007)

OR 78 (HWY 442)

FOREST RD 43

OR 78 (HWY 442)

US 395 (HWY 048)

8244: STEENS MOUNT

C114 OL EXP STA RD

8244: STEENS MOUNT

US 395 (HWY 048)

OR 205 (HWY 440)

4330

DREWSEY RD

OR 78 (HWY 442)

US 395 (HWY 049)

US 395 (HWY 049)

US 395 (HWY 049)

USFS ROAD

C117 FRY LANE

C308 CLARK LANE

US 395 (HWY 048)

Related