County profile · official public datasets

Lewis County, WA

419 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.4% rated Good, 56.8% Fair, 3.8% Poor.

419
Public bridges: 39.4%
Good condition: 3.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lewis County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 26%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.8%
Poor-condition share: 419
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Lewis County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lewis County ranks #10 of 39 Washington counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.8%). Lewis County, Washington contains 419 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.4% are rated “Good,” 56.8% “Fair,” and 3.8% “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

419

Public highway bridges in Lewis County

Good condition

39.4%

165 of 419 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56.8%

238 of 419 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.8%

16 of 419 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#10 of 39

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

Condition distribution

Share of 419 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

39.4% (165)

Fair

56.8% (238)

Poor

3.8% (16)

Lewis County's Poor-condition bridges carry 102,118 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,382 crossings a day against 2,418 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 418 of 419 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

64.7% of Lewis County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

271 of the 419 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 39.4% 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 40.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-5 over LACAMAS CR DREWS PR RD, built 1953, carries 41,665 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 102,118 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

21
1930s

17
1940s

29
1950s

108
1960s

64
1970s

57
1980s

27
1990s

26
2000s

26
2010s

29
2020s

13

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 108 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1969, 6 years older than the Washington average of 1975.

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

The 5 Washington counties nearest Lewis County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.8% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lewis County and the 5 Washington counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Snohomish County	500	49%	47%	4%	1980
Pierce County	472	55.3%	40.5%	4.2%	1974
Lewis County (this page)	419	39.4%	56.8%	3.8%	1969
Grays Harbor County	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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WA (419 bridges here).

Kay County, OK · 419 bridges
Taylor County, TX · 419 bridges
Santa Barbara County, CA · 418 bridges
Lucas County, OH · 418 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WA (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges

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

All 419 Good 165 Fair 238 Poor 16

Fair-condition bridges (238)

Sort:

Lewis County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lewis County's Poor-condition bridges carry 102,118 vehicle crossings a day

64.7% of Lewis County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 40.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lewis 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

Fair-condition bridges (238)

E. Maple St

STEVENS CANYON ROA

SENN ROAD

ANDERSON ROAD

INDEPENDENCE ROAD

ROCK ST

TWIN OAKS ROAD

CERES HILL ROAD

COAL CREEK ROAD

SHOREY RD

STEVENS CANYON ROA

SR 6

WINLOCK VADER RD.

MEADE HILL ROAD

KIRKLAND ROAD

COLLINS ROAD

KING ST

PINE ST

IRON ST

NELSON ROAD

WALNUT STREET

SR 6

TENNESSEE ROAD

SR 6

I-5

ELK CREEK RD.

STOVER ROAD

PROFFITT ROAD

BROWN ROAD WEST

BROWN ROAD WEST

NORTH FORK RD

NE KRESKY RD

NEWAUKUM VALLEY RD

HAYWIRE ROAD

TOLEDO SALMON ROAD

LINCOLN CREEK RD

PLEASANT VALLEY RD

HWY 603

NO DATA ENTERED

SKATE CREEK ROAD

CEDAR ST

US 12

US 12

NO DATA ENTERED

FERRIER RD

LOST VALLEY ROAD

CEDAR CREEK ROAD

OYLER ROAD

GARRARD CREEK RD.

I-5

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