County profile · official public datasets

Wahkiakum County, WA

36 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50% rated Good, 47.2% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

36
Public bridges: 50%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Wahkiakum County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 18%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 36
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.

Wahkiakum County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wahkiakum County ranks #7 of 39 Washington counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Wahkiakum County, Washington contains 36 public highway bridges. Roughly 50% are rated “Good,” 47.2% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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 Wahkiakum County

Good condition

50%

18 of 36 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.2%

17 of 36 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

1 of 36 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#7 of 39

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

Condition distribution

Share of 36 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

50% (18)

Fair

47.2% (17)

Poor

2.8% (1)

Wahkiakum County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,124 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,124 crossings a day against 518 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 36 of 36 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

58.3% of Wahkiakum County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

21 of the 36 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 50% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 4 over HULL CREEK, built 1934, carries 1,124 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,124 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

8
1940s

2
1950s

2
1960s

6
1970s

7
1980s

4
1990s

2
2000s

3
2010s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 8 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1969, 6 years older than the Washington average of 1975.

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

The 5 Washington counties nearest Wahkiakum County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wahkiakum County and the 5 Washington counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Garfield County	54	42.6%	50%	7.4%	1969
Ferry County	53	41.5%	49.1%	9.4%	1972
Douglas County	40	40%	47.5%	12.5%	1965
Wahkiakum County (this page)	36	50%	47.2%	2.8%	1969
Asotin County	29	51.7%	41.4%	6.9%	1976
San Juan County	13	23.1%	76.9%	0%	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 Wahkiakum 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 Wahkiakum County, both outside Washington so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WA (36 bridges here).

Banner County, NE · 36 bridges
Sioux County, NE · 36 bridges
Hansford County, TX · 36 bridges
Zapata County, TX · 36 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

Fair

Over: SALMON CREEK

0.3 N SALMON CR RD, Wahkiakum, WA

Built 1978 Load: 41.5 t ADT: 51

FOSTER ROAD

Fair

Over: ELOCHOMAN RIVER

0.5 W JCT SR 409, Wahkiakum, WA

Wahkiakum County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wahkiakum County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,124 vehicle crossings a day

58.3% of Wahkiakum County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wahkiakum 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 (36)

EAST VALLEY ROAD

WEST VALLEY ROAD

SR 409

SR 4

SR 4

GRAYS RIV. LOOP RD

SR 4

SR 4

SR 4

SR 409

ALTONA-PILAR RK RD

STEAMBOAT SL ROAD

BARR ROAD

SR 4

SR 4

HUNGRY HWY

FOSTER ROAD

COVERED BRIDGE RD

MAKI ROAD

CROWN CAMP ROAD

FERRY RAMP

ELOCHOMAN VLY RD

BEAVER CREEK ROAD

OATFIELD ROAD

W DIKE DEEP RIV RD

MIDDLE VALLEY ROAD

SR 4

SR 409

PETERSON ROAD

EDEN VALLEY ROAD

SR 4

ELOCHOMAN VLY RD

ALTOONA-PILLAR RK

SR 4

ELOCHOMAN VALLEY R

SR 4

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