Total bridges
472
Public highway bridges in Pierce County
County profile · official public datasets
Pierce County, WA
472 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.3% rated Good, 40.5% Fair, 4.2% Poor.
- 472
- Public bridges
- 55.3%
- Good condition
- 4.2%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Pierce County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 36%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 4.2%
- Poor-condition share
- 472
- public highway bridges
- 1974
- 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.
Pierce County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pierce County ranks #14 of 39 Washington counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.2%). Pierce County, Washington contains 472 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.3% are rated “Good,” 40.5% “Fair,” and 4.2% “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.
Good condition
55.3%
261 of 472 rated 7-9
Fair condition
40.5%
191 of 472 rated 5-6
Poor condition
4.2%
20 of 472 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#14 of 39
Among Washington counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 472 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 55.3% (261)
Fair 40.5% (191)
Poor 4.2% (20)
Pierce County's Poor-condition bridges carry 205,202 vehicle crossings a day
That is 2.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 10,260 crossings a day against 17,689 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 472 of 472 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
56.6% of Pierce County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
267 of the 472 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 55.3% 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 13.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
SR 99 (54TH AVE E) over I-5 RAMPS, built 1961, carries 28,462 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 20-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 205,202 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Pierce County's bridges were built
472 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 2
1900–1909
2 bridges
- 1910s 8
1910–1919
8 bridges
- 1920s 22
1920–1929
22 bridges
- 1930s 23
1930–1939
23 bridges
- 1940s 18
1940–1949
18 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
68 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
74 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
69 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
45 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
46 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
37 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
45 bridges
- 2020s 15
2020–2029
15 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 74 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Washington average (1975).
How Pierce County compares with Washington's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Washington counties nearest Pierce County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.2% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 38 Washington counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yakima County | 558 | 58.2% | 36.7% | 5% | 1973 |
| Snohomish County | 500 | 49% | 47% | 4% | 1980 |
| Pierce County (this page) | 472 | 55.3% | 40.5% | 4.2% | 1974 |
| Lewis County | 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 |
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 Pierce 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 Pierce County, both outside Washington so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside WA (472 bridges here).
- Onondaga County, NY · 472 bridges
- Orange County, NY · 472 bridges
- Multnomah County, OR · 473 bridges
- Jasper County, MO · 471 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside WA (1974 here).
- Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
- Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (20)
STATE ROUTE 509
PoorOver: PUYALLUP WATERWAY RR
2.5 N JCT I-5, Pierce, WA
Built 1911 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 2,400
Fish War Mem X-ing
PoorOver: PUYALLUP RIVER
0.2 N JCT I-5, Pierce, WA
Built 1925 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 15,255
PORTLAND AVE
PoorOver: PUYALLUP AVE NPRR
0.2 N JCT I-5 PORT, Pierce, WA
Built 1973 Load: 5.8 t ADT: 19,549
FOX ISLND BR RD NW
PoorOver: HALE PASSAGE
0.1 S WARREN DR NW, Pierce, WA
Built 1954 Load: 12.0 t ADT: 5,525
INTERLAAKEN DR SW
PoorOver: STEILACOOM LAKE
1.0 E JCT GRVLY LK, Pierce, WA
Built 1927 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 4,905
CRAMER RD NW
PoorOver: LOCKEY CREEK
2.1 SW JCT SR 302, Pierce, WA
Built 1954 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 900
Fish War Mem X-ing
PoorOver: RAILROAD
0.2 N JCT I-5, Pierce, WA
Built 1925 Load: 17.8 t ADT: 15,256
EAST 34TH STREET
PoorOver: PACIFIC TO A ST
0.2 S JCT I-5, Pierce, WA
Built 1937 Load: 19.0 t ADT: 4,700
SR 167
PoorOver: BNSF RR
0.6 N JCT I-5, Pierce, WA
Built 1934 Load: 19.8 t ADT: 28,423
SR 302
PoorOver: HENDERSON BAY
10.7 E MASON CO, Pierce, WA
Built 1936 Load: 23.0 t ADT: 23,196
C STREET
PoorOver: CLOVER CREEK
GRID COORD ET388204, Pierce, WA
Built 1960 Load: 23.7 t ADT: 1
SUNRISE ROAD
PoorOver: FRYINGPAN CREEK
4.3 MILES SOUTHWEST OF JC, Pierce, WA
Built 1931 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 1,786
SR 162
PoorOver: S PRAIRIE CR
15.3 E JCT SR 410, Pierce, WA
Built 1956 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 9,533
TACOMA-VASHON TRAF
PoorOver: PUGET SOUND
PT DEFIANCE-TACOMA, Pierce, WA
Built 1958 Load: 31.7 t ADT: 2,330
SEQUALITCHEW ROAD
PoorOver: SEQUALITCHEW CREEK
GRID COORD ET291177, Pierce, WA
Built 1950 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 200
SR 99 (54TH AVE E)
PoorOver: I-5 RAMPS
JCT I-5, Pierce, WA
Built 1961 Load: 33.6 t ADT: 28,462
STEILACOOM DUPONT
PoorOver: I-5
4.1 N THURSTON CO, Pierce, WA
Built 1957 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 11,876
GRAVELLY LAKE DR
PoorOver: BNRR (NP)
9.7 N THURSTON CO, Pierce, WA
Built 1959 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 27,805
BARNES BLVD
PoorOver: CLOVER CREEK
WEST OF BRIDGE 84010, Pierce, WA
Built 1955 Load: 60.3 t ADT: 3,000
PERIMETER ROAD
PoorOver: CLOVER CREEK
GRID COORD ET403207, Pierce, WA
Built 1958 Load: 97.2 t ADT: 100
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.