County profile · official public datasets

Douglas County, WA

40 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40% rated Good, 47.5% Fair, 12.5% Poor.

40
Public bridges: 40%
Good condition: 12.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Douglas 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.

38th
of 39 on Poor share: 12.5%
Poor-condition share: 40
public highway bridges: 1965
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.

Douglas County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Douglas County ranks #38 of 39 Washington counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.5%). Douglas County, Washington contains 40 public highway bridges. Roughly 40% are rated “Good,” 47.5% “Fair,” and 12.5% “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 Douglas County

Good condition

40%

16 of 40 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.5%

19 of 40 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.5%

5 of 40 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#38 of 39

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

Condition distribution

Share of 40 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

40% (16)

Fair

47.5% (19)

Poor

12.5% (5)

Douglas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 16,137 vehicle crossings a day

That is 10.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,227 crossings a day against 5,026 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 40 of 40 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

80% of Douglas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

32 of the 40 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 40% 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 58.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 28 over DOUGLAS CREEK, built 1957, carries 9,382 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 16,137 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

3
1940s

3
1950s

16
1960s

6
1970s

4
1990s

4
2000s

2
2010s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 16 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 40% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1965, 10 years older than the Washington average of 1975.

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

The 5 Washington counties nearest Douglas County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Douglas County and the 5 Washington counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Garfield County	54	42.6%	50%	7.4%	1969
Ferry County	53	41.5%	49.1%	9.4%	1972
Douglas County (this page)	40	40%	47.5%	12.5%	1965
Wahkiakum County	36	50%	47.2%	2.8%	1969
Asotin County	29	51.7%	41.4%	6.9%	1976
San Juan County	13	23.1%	76.9%	0%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WA (40 bridges here).

Taliaferro County, GA · 40 bridges
Clark County, ID · 40 bridges
St. John the Baptist County, LA · 40 bridges
Douglas County, MN · 40 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WA (1965 here).

Windsor County, VT · avg 1965 · 483 bridges
Bedford County, PA · avg 1965 · 417 bridges
Crawford County, PA · avg 1965 · 399 bridges
Harper County, KS · avg 1965 · 372 bridges

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

All 40 Good 16 Fair 19 Poor 5

All bridges (40)

Sort:

Douglas County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Douglas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 16,137 vehicle crossings a day

80% of Douglas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 58.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Douglas County compares with Washington'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 (40)

US 2

FOURTH ST NE

AIRPORT RD (3 NW)

SR 17

MANSFIELD NORTH RD

MARY JANE HILL RD

SR 155

SR 173

PALISADES RD

PALISADES RD

SR 285

SR 28

SR 17

SR 17

RD 3 SW

SR 17

BRIDGEPORT HILL RD

WHITEHALL RD F SE

SR 28

US 2

SR 17

BADGER MTN. RD

BRIDGEPORT HILL RD

US 2

US 97

PALISADES RD

US 97

Eastmont Avenue

WAGON RD

US 97

2 RD NW

PEARL HILL RD.

RIMROCK MEADOWS RD

LAMOINE RD

RD 4 SW

PEARL HILL RD

US 97

MANSFIELD NORTH RD

SR 28

US 2

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