County profile · official public datasets

Skagit County, WA

254 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.2% rated Good, 59.4% Fair, 2.4% Poor.

254
Public bridges: 38.2%
Good condition: 2.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Skagit County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 13%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.4%
Poor-condition share: 254
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Skagit County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Skagit County ranks #5 of 39 Washington counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.4%). Skagit County, Washington contains 254 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.2% are rated “Good,” 59.4% “Fair,” and 2.4% “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

254

Public highway bridges in Skagit County

Good condition

38.2%

97 of 254 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.4%

151 of 254 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.4%

6 of 254 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#5 of 39

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

Condition distribution

Share of 254 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.2% (97)

Fair

59.4% (151)

Poor

2.4% (6)

Skagit County's Poor-condition bridges carry 42,734 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry the same share of traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 7,122 crossings a day against 8,191 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 254 of 254 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

63.8% of Skagit County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

162 of the 254 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 38.2% 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 62.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-5 over SAMISH RIVER PVT RD, built 1963, carries 26,524 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 42,734 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

7
1930s

8
1940s

9
1950s

51
1960s

61
1970s

38
1980s

19
1990s

13
2000s

32
2010s

11
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 61 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the Washington average (1975).

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

The 5 Washington counties nearest Skagit County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.4% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Skagit County and the 5 Washington counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Kittitas County	308	39%	50.6%	10.4%	1973
Spokane County	307	51.1%	42%	6.8%	1978
Grant County	306	63.7%	33.7%	2.6%	1973
Skagit County (this page)	254	38.2%	59.4%	2.4%	1972
Clark County	218	55%	40.8%	4.1%	1979
Thurston County	205	59.5%	39.5%	1%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WA (254 bridges here).

Manatee County, FL · 254 bridges
Ottawa County, MI · 254 bridges
Wagoner County, OK · 254 bridges
Coos County, OR · 254 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WA (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 254 Good 97 Fair 151 Poor 6

All bridges (254)

Sort:

Skagit County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Skagit County's Poor-condition bridges carry 42,734 vehicle crossings a day

63.8% of Skagit County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 62.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Skagit 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 (254)

SWAN ROAD

SR 530

I-5

SR 9

RD. NO. 2820

LAKE SAMISH RD

OLD HWY 99 NORTH

MARCH POINT ROAD

I-5

SOUTH SKAGIT HWY

MINKLER ROAD

FARM TO MARKET RD.

SR 20

SR 20

I-5

I-5

OLD HWY 99 NORTH

BEAVER LAKE RD

BAKER LAKE RD

FARM TO MARKET RD.

SR 20

SR 536

SR 9

CAPE HORN ROAD

FARM TO MARKET RD.

CAPE HORN ROAD

RD. NO. 26

I-5

I-5

BAY VIEW-EDISON RD

LAKE SAMISH RD

BAKER LAKE ROAD

SR 9

SOUTH SKAGIT HWY

SR 530

ANDERSON RD

FRIDAY CREEK ROAD

SR 20

ROCKPORT CASCADE

ROAD

RD. NO. 26

I-5

I-5

FRANCIS ROAD

BURMASTER ROAD

GREEN ROAD

FRIDAY CREEK ROAD

FRIDAY CREEK ROAD

SOUTH SKAGIT HWY

FRIDAY CREEK ROAD

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