County profile · official public datasets

Josephine County, OR

226 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35% rated Good, 62.4% Fair, 2.7% Poor.

226
Public bridges: 35%
Good condition: 2.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 33%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.7%
Poor-condition share: 226
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Josephine County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Josephine County ranks #12 of 36 Oregon counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.7%). Josephine County, Oregon contains 226 public highway bridges. Roughly 35% are rated “Good,” 62.4% “Fair,” and 2.7% “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

226

Public highway bridges in Josephine County

Good condition

35%

79 of 226 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.4%

141 of 226 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.7%

6 of 226 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#12 of 36

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

Condition distribution

Share of 226 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35% (79)

Fair

62.4% (141)

Poor

2.7% (6)

Josephine County's Poor-condition bridges carry 271 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 45 crossings a day against 1,386 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 226 of 226 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

65% of Josephine County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

147 of the 226 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 35% 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 29.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

WIMER ROAD over WHISKEY CREEK, built 1954, carries 80 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 271 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

15
1930s

2
1940s

6
1950s

38
1960s

68
1970s

28
1980s

14
1990s

13
2000s

32
2010s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 68 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 30.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1971) matches the Oregon average (1975).

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

The 5 Oregon counties nearest Josephine County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.7% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Josephine County and the 5 Oregon counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Coos County	254	40.9%	55.9%	3.1%	1978
Klamath County	248	46%	48.8%	5.2%	1979
Josephine County (this page)	226	35%	62.4%	2.7%	1971
Tillamook County	225	35.6%	59.6%	4.9%	1978
Benton County	190	32.6%	60%	7.4%	1974
Lincoln County	190	41.6%	51.1%	7.4%	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 Josephine 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 Josephine County, both outside Oregon so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OR (226 bridges here).

Faribault County, MN · 226 bridges
Oktibbeha County, MS · 226 bridges
Beaverhead County, MT · 226 bridges
Columbus County, NC · 226 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OR (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Monmouth County, NJ · avg 1971 · 505 bridges

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

All 226 Good 79 Fair 141 Poor 6

All bridges (226)

Sort:

Josephine County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Josephine County's Poor-condition bridges carry 271 vehicle crossings a day

65% of Josephine County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 29.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Josephine 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

All bridges (226)

I-5 (HWY 001)

I-5 (HWY 001)

US 199 (HWY 025)

OR 46 (HWY 038)

ROAD

EAST FORK ROAD

CARTON WAY

SUCKER CR EXT ROAD

HOLLAND LOOP RD

HWY 482 SPUR

35 S 07 W 04.00:

WALDO ROAD

UPPER RIVER ROAD

I-5 (HWY 001) SB

RUSSELL ROAD

32 S 05 W 20.00:

LOW.GRAVE CR RD

TAVIS DRIVE

JUMPOFF JOE CRK RD

Elmer Nelson Way

I-5 (HWY 001)

LAKESHORE DRIVE

US 199 (HWY 25)

US 199 (HWY 025)

US 199 (HWY 025)

DEER CREEK ROAD

DRYDEN ROAD

OLD HYWAY 199

WILLIAMS HIGHWAY

SOUTHSIDE ROAD

38 S 05 W 17.01:

I-5 (HWY 001) NB

I-5 (HWY 001) SB

GRANITE HILL ROAD

LELAND RD

KINCAID ROAD

US 199 (HWY 025)

PICKETT CREEK ROAD

WATERS CREEK ROAD

I-5 (HWY 001)

35 S 06 W 08.00:

FINCH RD IN KERBY

BRIDGE LANE

HOLLAND LOOP RD

LAKESHORE DRIVE

WESTSIDE ROAD

US199 (HWY 025)

HWY 260

SUCKER CR ROAD

37 S 07 W 10.00:

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