County profile · official public datasets

Lincoln County, WA

180 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.7% rated Good, 37.2% Fair, 6.1% Poor.

180
Public bridges: 56.7%
Good condition: 6.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lincoln 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.

23rd
of 39 on Poor share: 6.1%
Poor-condition share: 180
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.

Lincoln County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lincoln County ranks #23 of 39 Washington counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.1%). Lincoln County, Washington contains 180 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.7% are rated “Good,” 37.2% “Fair,” and 6.1% “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

180

Public highway bridges in Lincoln County

Good condition

56.7%

102 of 180 rated 7-9

Fair condition

37.2%

67 of 180 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.1%

11 of 180 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#23 of 39

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

Condition distribution

Share of 180 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

56.7% (102)

Fair

37.2% (67)

Poor

6.1% (11)

Lincoln County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,500 vehicle crossings a day

That is 9.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,045 crossings a day against 312 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 180 of 180 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

62.8% of Lincoln County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

113 of the 180 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 56.7% 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 90.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-90 over DOERSCHLAG RD, built 1968, carries 10,407 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 11,500 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

9
1910s

11
1920s

3
1930s

19
1940s

12
1950s

9
1960s

25
1970s

32
1980s

13
1990s

31
2000s

13
2010s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 32 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1965, 10 years older than the Washington average of 1975.

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

The 5 Washington counties nearest Lincoln County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.1% Poor share is the 3rd-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 Lincoln County and the 5 Washington counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Walla Walla County	195	64.1%	27.2%	8.7%	1980
Adams County	187	35.3%	54.5%	10.2%	1961
Lincoln County (this page)	180	56.7%	37.2%	6.1%	1965
Benton County	167	58.7%	35.9%	5.4%	1977
Okanogan County	161	46.6%	45.3%	8.1%	1972
Cowlitz County	160	46.3%	50%	3.8%	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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County, both outside Washington so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WA (180 bridges here).

Blount County, AL · 180 bridges
Craig County, OK · 180 bridges
Wood County, WV · 180 bridges
Lamar County, AL · 181 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 180 Good 102 Fair 67 Poor 11

Good-condition bridges (102)

Sort:

Lincoln County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lincoln County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,500 vehicle crossings a day

62.8% of Lincoln County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 90.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lincoln 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 (102)

REDWINE CANYON RD

GRAVELLE ROAD

US 2

BLUESTEM ROAD

SR 174

LIMESTONE ROAD

DUCK LAKE RD 92310

MOHLER ROAD 34560

COTTONWOOD CRK RD

MAIN STREET

DOBSON ROAD

SR 21

KAISER ROAD

PLATTER ROAD

TOKIO ROAD 93250

OLD STREYFELLER RD

COFFEEPOT LAKE RD

WILLIAMS ROAD 4072

WHEATDALE ROAD

SR 21

DOERSCHLAG ROAD

ALMIRA SOUTH ROAD

OLD HARMON RD 6337

DUCK LAKE RD 92310

SR 28

THORPE ROAD

S. DIVISION ST

HAWK CRK RANCH RD

DOERSCHLAG ROAD

WAGNER LAKE ROAD

BLUESTEM ROAD

CANBY BRIDGE 37430

ESTATE ROAD 30190

BOYK ROAD 60210

BRACE STREET

SEVEN MILE ROAD

SR 231

GOVAN SOUTH ROAD

BODEAU RD 4253

DUCK LAKE RD 92310

SR 21

YARWOOD ROAD

LIMESTONE RD. 9619

GUNNING ROAD

HAWK CRK RANCH RD

CRESTON SOUTH ROAD

TELECKY ROAD

DOWNS ROAD

COLEMAN ROAD

IRBY ROAD NO. 1175

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