County profile · official public datasets

Union County, OR

166 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.2% rated Good, 54.2% Fair, 3.6% Poor.

166
Public bridges: 42.2%
Good condition: 3.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 50%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.6%
Poor-condition share: 166
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Union County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Union County ranks #18 of 36 Oregon counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.6%). Union County, Oregon contains 166 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.2% are rated “Good,” 54.2% “Fair,” and 3.6% “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

166

Public highway bridges in Union County

Good condition

42.2%

70 of 166 rated 7-9

Fair condition

54.2%

90 of 166 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.6%

6 of 166 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#18 of 36

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

Condition distribution

Share of 166 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.2% (70)

Fair

54.2% (90)

Poor

3.6% (6)

Union County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,126 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,188 crossings a day against 865 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 166 of 166 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

47% of Union County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

78 of the 166 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 42.2% 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 83.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

2ND ST over UNION PACIFIC RAIL ROAD, built 1979, carries 5,933 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 7,126 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

9
1930s

2
1940s

4
1950s

12
1960s

20
1970s

44
1980s

14
1990s

11
2000s

32
2010s

16
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 44 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1980, 5 years newer than the Oregon average of 1975.

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

The 5 Oregon counties nearest Union County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.6% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 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 Union County and the 5 Oregon counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Malheur County	181	31.5%	65.7%	2.8%	1976
Union County (this page)	166	42.2%	54.2%	3.6%	1980
Polk County	161	29.2%	64%	6.8%	1976
Clatsop County	155	32.9%	63.2%	3.9%	1974
Deschutes County	152	56.6%	42.1%	1.3%	1986
Yamhill County	149	24.2%	71.1%	4.7%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OR (166 bridges here).

Clay County, IL · 166 bridges
Trego County, KS · 166 bridges
Bay County, MI · 166 bridges
Pontotoc County, MS · 166 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OR (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 166 Good 70 Fair 90 Poor 6

All bridges (166)

Sort:

Union County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Union County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,126 vehicle crossings a day

47% of Union County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 83.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Union 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 (166)

I-84 (HWY 006) EB

BEHRENS LANE

OR 82 (HWY 010)

I-84 (HWY 006) EB

HINDMAN ROAD

SPRUCE STREET

OR 203 (HWY 066)

CLARK CREEK ROAD

I-84 (HWY 006)

I-84 (HWY 006)

ALICEL LANE

HULL LANE

NO DATA ENTERED

LADD CANYON RD

I-84 (HWY 006) WB

OR 203 (HWY 066)

GODLEY ROAD

OR 203 (HWY 340)

I-84 (HWY 006) EB

OR 82 (HWY 010)

Rose Ridge Road

MILLER LANE

HWY 6 CONN

BOOTH LANE

ELGIN CEMETERY RD

I-84 (HWY 006) WB

OR 203 (HWY 66)

INDIAN CREEK ROAD

BIG CREEK ROAD

I-84 (HWY 006) EB

Telocaset Lane

N POWDER RD

MINAM RIDGE ROAD

McKennon Lane

DUTTON ROAD

I-84 (HWY 006) WB

High Valley Road

BOOTH LANE

MCALISTER LANE

INDIAN CREEK ROAD

NO DATA ENTERED

US 30 (HWY 066)

PIERCE ROAD

ROBINSON ROAD

HOT LAKE LANE

FIVE POINT CR ROAD

PHYS POINT RD

G.R. RIVER ROAD

ROBINSON ROAD

NO DATA ENTERED

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