County profile · official public datasets

Clark County, WA

218 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55% rated Good, 40.8% Fair, 4.1% Poor.

218
Public bridges
55%
Good condition
4.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Clark 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
4.1%
Poor-condition share
218
public highway bridges
1979
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.

Clark County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Clark County ranks #13 of 39 Washington counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.1%). Clark County, Washington contains 218 public highway bridges. Roughly 55% are rated “Good,” 40.8% “Fair,” and 4.1% “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

218

Public highway bridges in Clark County

Good condition

55%

120 of 218 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40.8%

89 of 218 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.1%

9 of 218 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 39

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

Condition distribution

Share of 218 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
55% (120)
Fair
40.8% (89)
Poor
4.1% (9)

Clark County's Poor-condition bridges carry 116,811 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 12,979 crossings a day against 12,667 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 218 of 218 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

47.7% of Clark County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

104 of the 218 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 55% 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 35.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-5 over E FORK LEWIS RIVER, built 1939, carries 41,367 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 116,811 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Clark County's bridges were built

218 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 41 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Washington average (1975).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

How Clark County compares with Washington's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Washington counties nearest Clark County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.1% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 8 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 38 Washington counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Clark County and the 5 Washington counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Skagit County 254 2.4%
Clark County (this page) 218 4.1%
Thurston County 205 1%
Walla Walla County 195 8.7%
Adams County 187 10.2%
Lincoln County 180 6.1%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WA (218 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WA (1979 here).

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

All bridges (218)

SR 14

Good

Over: E-6TH RAMP

6.3 E JCT I-205, Clark, WA

Built 1965 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 28,335

S-E RAMP FROM I-5

Good

Over: SR 14

0.3 N OREGON, Clark, WA

Built 1983 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 13,957

S-E RAMP

Good

Over: I-5

0.3 N OREGON, Clark, WA

Built 1983 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 13,957

SR 501

Good

Over: FLUSHING CHANNEL

5.3 N JCT I-5, Clark, WA

Built 1990 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 950

NE Woodburn Drive

Good

Over: Tributary to Lacamas Ck

.25 miles west of 283rd, Clark, WA

Built 2013 Load: 95.9 t ADT: 200

NE Ward Road

Good

Over: NE 172nd Ave

0.1 miled east of 172nd A, Clark, WA

Built 2009 Load: 96.9 t ADT: 10,460

NW Carty Road

Good

Over: Gee Creek

1.13 W of NE 10th Ave, Clark, WA

Built 2016 Load: 96.9 t ADT: 1,097

NE MANLEY ROAD

Good

Over: MANLEY CREEK

NE 249TH ST & NE 254TH ST, Clark, WA

Built 2020 Load: 96.9 t ADT: 1,961

NE 92ND AVE

Good

Over: MANLEY CREEK

NE 244TH ST & NE 249TH ST, Clark, WA

Built 2021 Load: 96.9 t ADT: 600

LIESER RD

Poor

Over: SR 14

4.4 E JCT I-5, Clark, WA

Built 1969 Load: 13.3 t ADT: 8,560

SR 500

Poor

Over: HJF CANAL

13.8 E JCT SR 503, Clark, WA

Built 1915 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 7,340

CC LANDON ROAD

Poor

Over: YACOLT CREEK

0.3 W CO RD 16, Clark, WA

Built 1955 Load: 16.5 t ADT: 312

I-5

Poor

Over: LEWIS RIVER

5.8 N JCT SR 501, Clark, WA

Built 1940 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 41,367

I-5

Poor

Over: E FORK LEWIS RIVER

4.1 N JCT SR 501, Clark, WA

Built 1939 Load: 19.0 t ADT: 41,367

NO DATA ENTERED

Poor

Over: CANYON CREEK

ABOUT 4 MILES EAST OF CHE, Clark, WA

Built 1948 Load: 24.2 t ADT: 207

SR 500

Poor

Over: LACAMAS LAKE

12.6 E JCT SR 503, Clark, WA

Built 1930 Load: 25.3 t ADT: 10,894

SR 503

Poor

Over: N BRANCH CHELATCHIE CR

13.5 N JCT SR 502, Clark, WA

Built 1953 Load: 31.7 t ADT: 818

SR 14

Poor

Over: BN RR

4.1 E JCT SR 500, Clark, WA

Built 1972 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 5,946
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges

Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.