County profile · official public datasets

Lake County, OR

94 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.9% rated Good, 45.7% Fair, 6.4% Poor.

94
Public bridges: 47.9%
Good condition: 6.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lake County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

27th
of 36 on Poor share: 6.4%
Poor-condition share: 94
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Lake County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lake County ranks #27 of 36 Oregon counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.4%). Lake County, Oregon contains 94 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.9% are rated “Good,” 45.7% “Fair,” and 6.4% “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

Public highway bridges in Lake County

Good condition

47.9%

45 of 94 rated 7-9

Fair condition

45.7%

43 of 94 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.4%

6 of 94 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#27 of 36

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

Condition distribution

Share of 94 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

47.9% (45)

Fair

45.7% (43)

Poor

6.4% (6)

Lake County's Poor-condition bridges carry 332 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 55 crossings a day against 499 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 94 of 94 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

40.4% of Lake County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

38 of the 94 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 47.9% 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 25.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

ROAD over SYCAN SPRING, built 1961, carries 85 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 332 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1940s

1
1950s

10
1960s

22
1970s

8
1980s

29
1990s

1
2000s

18
2010s

4
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 29 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 30.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 6 years newer than the Oregon average of 1975.

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

The 5 Oregon counties nearest Lake County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.4% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lake County and the 5 Oregon counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wallowa County	115	53.9%	37.4%	8.7%	1978
Curry County	101	31.7%	64.4%	4%	1969
Lake County (this page)	94	47.9%	45.7%	6.4%	1981
Hood River County	82	48.8%	48.8%	2.4%	1977
Jefferson County	80	46.3%	46.3%	7.5%	1980
Crook County	79	46.8%	53.2%	0%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OR (94 bridges here).

Yukon-Koyukuk County, AK · 94 bridges
Lee County, AR · 94 bridges
Huerfano County, CO · 94 bridges
Henry County, KY · 94 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OR (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 94 Good 45 Fair 43 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (43)

Sort:

Lake County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lake County's Poor-condition bridges carry 332 vehicle crossings a day

40.4% of Lake County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 25.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lake 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 (43)

NO DATA ENTERED

NO DATA ENTERED

US 395 (HWY 019)

OR 140 (HWY 431)

OR 31 (HWY 019)

OR 31 (HWY 019)

US 395 (HWY 019)

NO DATA ENTERED

ROAD

OR 140 (HWY 431)

OR 140 (HWY 431)

3-10

2-16

OR 31 (HWY 019)

3-10

CAMPGROUND ROAD

OR 140 (HWY 431)

OR 140 (HWY 431)

OR 140 (HWY 431)

2-19

3-14

ROAD

ROAD

ROAD

ROAD

ROAD

1-10

2-16

3-14

6TH ST

NO DATA ENTERED

4-10

1-10

1-10

ROAD

ROAD

ROAD

ROAD

2-10

WEST SIDE ROAD

ROAD

3-16

2-8

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