County profile · official public datasets

Wasco County, OR

148 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 31.8% rated Good, 60.1% Fair, 8.1% Poor.

148
Public bridges: 31.8%
Good condition: 8.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

33rd
of 36 on Poor share: 8.1%
Poor-condition share: 148
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Wasco County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wasco County ranks #33 of 36 Oregon counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.1%). Wasco County, Oregon contains 148 public highway bridges. Roughly 31.8% are rated “Good,” 60.1% “Fair,” and 8.1% “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

148

Public highway bridges in Wasco County

Good condition

31.8%

47 of 148 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60.1%

89 of 148 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.1%

12 of 148 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#33 of 36

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

Condition distribution

Share of 148 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

31.8% (47)

Fair

60.1% (89)

Poor

8.1% (12)

Wasco County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,941 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 176 crossings a day against 4,192 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 147 of 148 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

62.2% of Wasco County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

92 of the 148 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 31.8% 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 32.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MILL CR RD over MILL CREEK, built 1941, carries 625 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,941 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

10
1930s

1
1940s

11
1950s

29
1960s

32
1970s

24
1980s

10
1990s

12
2000s

10
2010s

4
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 32 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1968, 7 years older than the Oregon average of 1975.

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

The 5 Oregon counties nearest Wasco County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.1% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 10 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wasco County and the 5 Oregon counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
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
Wasco County (this page)	148	31.8%	60.1%	8.1%	1968
Grant County	144	45.1%	49.3%	5.6%	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 Wasco 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 Wasco County, both outside Oregon so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OR (148 bridges here).

Claiborne County, LA · 148 bridges
Ravalli County, MT · 148 bridges
Nance County, NE · 148 bridges
Cayuga County, NY · 148 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OR (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges

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

All 148 Good 47 Fair 89 Poor 12

All bridges (148)

Sort:

Wasco County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wasco County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,941 vehicle crossings a day

62.2% of Wasco County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 32.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wasco 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 (148)

US 197 (HWY 004)

I-84 (HWY 002)

HWY 100

OR 218 (HWY 291)

RESERVATION RD

IRR BIA RTE 3

IRR BIA RTE 33

IRR BIA RTE 2

US 197 (HWY 004)

US 197 (HWY 004)

I-84 (HWY 002) WB

I-84 (HWY 002)

UPPER TUB SPRINGS

HWY 293

I-84 (HWY 002) EB

IRR BIA RTE 35

LOWER EIGHTMILE RD

IRR BIA RTE 581

W 10TH STREET

LONG HOLLOW ROAD

IRR BIA RTE 30

IRR BIA RTE 8001

US 197 (HWY 004)

US 197 (HWY 004)

PROJECT AND PUBLIC

STATE ROAD

TAYLOR GRADE

RESERVATION RD

HERBERLEIN ROAD

WRENTHAM MARKET RD

JAPANESE HOLLOW RD

SHADYBROOK ROAD

FARGHER ROAD

WHITE RV CROSSING

FAIRGROUNDS ROAD

THREEMILE ROAD

RIVER TRAIL WAY

I-84 (HWY 002)

IRR BIA RTE 2

BREWERY GRADE

BREWERY GRADE

I-84 (HWY 002)

I-84 (HWY 002)

OR 216 (HWY 290)

I-84 (HWY 002)

IRR BIA RTE 8

FIFTEEN MILE ROAD

RIVER RD

I-84 (HWY 002)

ROAD

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