County profile · official public datasets

Ferry County, WA

53 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.5% rated Good, 49.1% Fair, 9.4% Poor.

53
Public bridges: 41.5%
Good condition: 9.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Ferry County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

33rd
of 39 on Poor share: 9.4%
Poor-condition share: 53
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Ferry County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ferry County ranks #33 of 39 Washington counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.4%). Ferry County, Washington contains 53 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.5% are rated “Good,” 49.1% “Fair,” and 9.4% “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 Ferry County

Good condition

41.5%

22 of 53 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.1%

26 of 53 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.4%

5 of 53 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#33 of 39

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

Condition distribution

Share of 53 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

41.5% (22)

Fair

49.1% (26)

Poor

9.4% (5)

Ferry County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,701 vehicle crossings a day

That is 19% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 740 crossings a day against 506 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 53 of 53 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.9% of Ferry County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

27 of the 53 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 41.5% 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 72.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 20 over ABANDONED RAILROAD, built 1960, carries 2,698 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 3,701 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

3
1910s

1
1920s

2
1930s

3
1940s

1
1950s

6
1960s

8
1970s

4
1980s

4
1990s

10
2000s

5
2010s

4
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 10 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the Washington average (1975).

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

The 5 Washington counties nearest Ferry County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.4% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ferry County and the 5 Washington counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Stevens County	75	40%	48%	12%	1973
Pend Oreille County	71	54.9%	32.4%	12.7%	1981
Garfield County	54	42.6%	50%	7.4%	1969
Ferry County (this page)	53	41.5%	49.1%	9.4%	1972
Douglas County	40	40%	47.5%	12.5%	1965
Wahkiakum County	36	50%	47.2%	2.8%	1969

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WA (53 bridges here).

Cleburne County, AR · 53 bridges
Citrus County, FL · 53 bridges
Lumpkin County, GA · 53 bridges
Stewart County, GA · 53 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WA (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 53 Good 22 Fair 26 Poor 5

All bridges (53)

Sort:

Ferry County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ferry County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,701 vehicle crossings a day

50.9% of Ferry County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 72.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ferry 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 (53)

CO RD 02140

US 395

US 395

FERRY STREET

GOLD CREEK RD

W KETTLE RIV ROAD

OLD US 395 ALIGN

BRIDGE CR ROAD

McMANN CREEK ROAD

SILVER CK RD 00670

IRR BIA RTE 6

IRR BIA RTE 100

SR 21

HODGSON PRICE ROAD

IRR BIA RTE 98

IRR BIA RTE 1123

IRR BIA RTE 1123

IRR BIA RTE 1123

LYNX CREEK ROAD

SR 21

CO RD 06470

NO DATA ENTERED

SR 21

NO DATA ENTERED

HALL CREEK RD

HALL CREEK RD

US 395

INCH-KTL FALLS

BRIDGE CREEK ROAD

SR 21

LONE RANCH ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 05370

SR 20

NO DATA ENTERED

SR 21

SR 21

SR 21

NO DATA ENTERED

US 395

8817: LONE RANCH N

SR 21

NO DATA ENTERED

HALL CREEK RD

HALL CREEK RD

MURPHY RD

Boulder Creek Road

EMPIRE CREEK ROAD

Inchelium Highway

SILVER CK RD 00670

SR 20

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