County profile · official public datasets

Klickitat County, WA

90 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 24.4% rated Good, 67.8% Fair, 7.8% Poor.

90
Public bridges: 24.4%
Good condition: 7.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

27th
of 39 on Poor share: 7.8%
Poor-condition share: 90
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Klickitat County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Klickitat County ranks #27 of 39 Washington counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.8%). Klickitat County, Washington contains 90 public highway bridges. Roughly 24.4% are rated “Good,” 67.8% “Fair,” and 7.8% “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 Klickitat County

Good condition

24.4%

22 of 90 rated 7-9

Fair condition

67.8%

61 of 90 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.8%

7 of 90 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#27 of 39

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

Condition distribution

Share of 90 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

24.4% (22)

Fair

67.8% (61)

Poor

7.8% (7)

Klickitat County's Poor-condition bridges carry 24,351 vehicle crossings a day

That is 22.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,479 crossings a day against 1,512 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 90 of 90 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.7% of Klickitat County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

42 of the 90 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 24.4% 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 30.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 197 over COLUMBIA R SP & S RY, built 1954, carries 7,400 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 24,351 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

3
1940s

5
1950s

13
1960s

11
1970s

17
1980s

17
1990s

13
2000s

7
2010s

2
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 17 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 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Washington average (1975).

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

The 5 Washington counties nearest Klickitat County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.8% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Klickitat County and the 5 Washington counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Kitsap County	115	71.3%	27.8%	0.9%	1989
Jefferson County	99	57.6%	38.4%	4%	1982
Klickitat County (this page)	90	24.4%	67.8%	7.8%	1975
Columbia County	86	45.3%	44.2%	10.5%	1979
Stevens County	75	40%	48%	12%	1973
Pend Oreille County	71	54.9%	32.4%	12.7%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WA (90 bridges here).

Greenlee County, AZ · 90 bridges
Clay County, FL · 90 bridges
Taylor County, FL · 90 bridges
Monroe County, GA · 90 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WA (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 90 Good 22 Fair 61 Poor 7

Good-condition bridges (22)

Sort:

Klickitat County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Klickitat County's Poor-condition bridges carry 24,351 vehicle crossings a day

46.7% of Klickitat County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 30.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Klickitat 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

Good-condition bridges (22)

MARTIN ROAD

US 97

SR 14

SR 141

Jennings Road

SR 142

MATTSON ROAD

SR 142

STAATS ROAD

SUNNYSIDE ROAD

SR 14

SR 142

SR 142

SR 142

SR 97

COLLINS DRIVE

SR 142

SR 142

SR 97

Roosevelt Grade Rd

MATSEN RD

SR 14

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