County profile · official public datasets

Grays Harbor County, WA

363 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.8% rated Good, 41.9% Fair, 9.4% Poor.

Compiled by PlainBridges

363
Public bridges: 48.8%
Good condition: 9.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

32nd
of 39 on Poor share: 9.4%
Poor-condition share: 363
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Grays Harbor County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Grays Harbor County ranks #32 of 39 Washington counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.4%). Grays Harbor County, Washington contains 363 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.8% are rated “Good,” 41.9% “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

363

Public highway bridges in Grays Harbor County

Good condition

48.8%

177 of 363 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41.9%

152 of 363 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.4%

34 of 363 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#32 of 39

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

Condition distribution

Share of 363 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.8% (177)

Fair

41.9% (152)

Poor

9.4% (34)

Grays Harbor County's Poor-condition bridges carry 153,497 vehicle crossings a day

That is 18.9% 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 4,515 crossings a day against 1,699 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 363 of 363 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.8% of Grays Harbor County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

177 of the 363 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 48.8% 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 16.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 101 over CHEHALIS RIVER, built 1955, carries 25,602 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 34-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 153,497 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

2
1920s

10
1930s

17
1940s

12
1950s

39
1960s

62
1970s

65
1980s

47
1990s

12
2000s

37
2010s

50
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 65 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Washington average (1975).

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

The 5 Washington counties nearest Grays Harbor County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.4% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Grays Harbor County and the 5 Washington counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Lewis County	419	39.4%	56.8%	3.8%	1969
Grays Harbor County (this page)	363	48.8%	41.9%	9.4%	1978
Whatcom County	354	44.1%	50.6%	5.4%	1970
Whitman County	347	52.2%	44.4%	3.5%	1974
Kittitas County	308	39%	50.6%	10.4%	1973
Spokane County	307	51.1%	42%	6.8%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WA (363 bridges here).

Muskingum County, OH · 363 bridges
Lackawanna County, PA · 363 bridges
Gibson County, IN · 362 bridges
Fayette County, IA · 362 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WA (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 363 Good 177 Fair 152 Poor 34

All bridges (363)

Sort:

Grays Harbor County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Grays Harbor County's Poor-condition bridges carry 153,497 vehicle crossings a day

48.8% of Grays Harbor County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 16.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Grays Harbor 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 (363)

OCEAN BEACH ROAD

BUSH CREEK ROAD

TAYLORS FERRY ROAD

BROOKLYN ROAD

MOX CHEHALIS RD

IRR BIA RTE 26

GLEASON ROAD

MOX CHEHALIS ROAD

BLACK CREEK ROAD

POLSON CAMP ROAD

NO DATA ENTERED

KELLEY ROAD

WEST WYNOOCHE ROAD

SARGENT BOULEVARD

SOUTH BANK ROAD

FOREMAN ROAD

US 12

GEISSLER ROAD

OCEAN BEACH ROAD

MINKLER ROAD

TULIPS ROAD

WENZEL SLOUGH ROAD

WYNOOCHE VALLEY RD

SOUTH BANK ROAD

BOYER ROAD

POLSON CAMP ROAD

JOHNS RIVER ROAD

BUSH CREEK ROAD

NO DATA ENTERED

ELMA HICKLIN ROAD

YOUMANS ROAD

BROOKLYN ROAD

MONTE ELMA ROAD

DELEZENNE ROAD

US 101

PIONEER AVE W

SCHAFER BOOM ROAD

US 12

GARRARD CREEK ROAD

NORTH SHORE ROAD

US 12

201st AVE

OCEAN BEACH ROAD

US 101

OCEAN BEACH ROAD

STILLSON ROAD

OCEAN BEACH ROAD

ELMA HICKLIN ROAD

WENZEL SLOUGH ROAD

CAMP CREEK ROAD

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