County profile · official public datasets

Malheur County, OR

181 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 31.5% rated Good, 65.7% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

181
Public bridges: 31.5%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 36%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 181
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Malheur County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Malheur County ranks #13 of 36 Oregon counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Malheur County, Oregon contains 181 public highway bridges. Roughly 31.5% are rated “Good,” 65.7% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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

181

Public highway bridges in Malheur County

Good condition

31.5%

57 of 181 rated 7-9

Fair condition

65.7%

119 of 181 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

5 of 181 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 36

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

Condition distribution

Share of 181 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

31.5% (57)

Fair

65.7% (119)

Poor

2.8% (5)

Malheur County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,109 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 822 crossings a day against 1,845 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 180 of 181 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.4% of Malheur County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

84 of the 181 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 31.5% 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 82.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

OR 52 (HWY 492) over Snake River, built 1953, carries 3,400 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,109 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

1
1930s

5
1940s

7
1950s

12
1960s

35
1970s

46
1980s

34
1990s

13
2000s

25
2010s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 46 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Oregon average (1975).

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

The 5 Oregon counties nearest Malheur County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Malheur County and the 5 Oregon counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Benton County	190	32.6%	60%	7.4%	1974
Lincoln County	190	41.6%	51.1%	7.4%	1974
Baker County	188	27.7%	65.4%	6.9%	1972
Malheur County (this page)	181	31.5%	65.7%	2.8%	1976
Union County	166	42.2%	54.2%	3.6%	1980
Polk County	161	29.2%	64%	6.8%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OR (181 bridges here).

Lamar County, AL · 181 bridges
Jasper County, IL · 181 bridges
Lancaster County, SC · 181 bridges
Potter County, TX · 181 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OR (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 181 Good 57 Fair 119 Poor 5

All bridges (181)

Sort:

Malheur County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Malheur County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,109 vehicle crossings a day

46.4% of Malheur County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 82.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Malheur 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 (181)

DAHLE RD C-1131

FALK ISLAND C-870

OR 201 (HWY 450)

US 20 (Hwy 007)

OR 201 (HWY 455)

PIONEER RD

MALHEUR RES. RD

US 26 (HWY 005)

KLAMATH AVE

SILVER CITY C-1121

US 20 (Hwy 007)

CLARK BLVD.

BONITA ROAD

NAPTON C-1057

BISHOP C-657

GREENFIELD C-1009

HWY 453

I-84 (HWY 6) EB

FASB483-ROCKVILLE

OR 201 (HWY 491)

LOGAN RD

HARPER-WESTFALL RD

6TH AVE

FIR RD.

BEULAH ROAD C510

US 95 (HWY 456)

OWYHEE RIVER C1025

WATERS LANE C-681

OR 52 (HWY 492)

LITTLE VLY RD C6

LYTLE BLVD C-853

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