Total bridges
347
Public highway bridges in Whitman County
County profile · official public datasets
Whitman County, WA
347 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.2% rated Good, 44.4% Fair, 3.5% Poor.
- 347
- Public bridges
- 52.2%
- Good condition
- 3.5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Whitman County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 21%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 3.5%
- Poor-condition share
- 347
- 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.
Whitman County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Whitman County ranks #8 of 39 Washington counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.5%). Whitman County, Washington contains 347 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.2% are rated “Good,” 44.4% “Fair,” and 3.5% “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
52.2%
181 of 347 rated 7-9
Fair condition
44.4%
154 of 347 rated 5-6
Poor condition
3.5%
12 of 347 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#8 of 39
Among Washington counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 347 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 52.2% (181)
Fair 44.4% (154)
Poor 3.5% (12)
Whitman County's Poor-condition bridges carry 34,980 vehicle crossings a day
That is 10.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,915 crossings a day against 766 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 347 of 347 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
47.6% of Whitman County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
165 of the 347 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 52.2% 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 27.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 195 over S FK PALOUSE RIVER, built 1923, carries 9,699 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 34,980 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Whitman County's bridges were built
347 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 6
1900–1909
6 bridges
- 1910s 12
1910–1919
12 bridges
- 1920s 12
1920–1929
12 bridges
- 1930s 11
1930–1939
11 bridges
- 1940s 7
1940–1949
7 bridges
- 1950s 12
1950–1959
12 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
59 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
95 bridges
- 1980s 32
1980–1989
32 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
41 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
41 bridges
- 2010s 16
2010–2019
16 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 95 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Washington average (1975).
How Whitman County compares with Washington's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Washington counties nearest Whitman County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.5% Poor share is the 2nd-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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grays Harbor County | 363 | 48.8% | 41.9% | 9.4% | 1978 |
| Whatcom County | 354 | 44.1% | 50.6% | 5.4% | 1970 |
| Whitman County (this page) | 347 | 52.2% | 44.4% | 3.5% | 1974 |
| 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 |
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 Whitman 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 Whitman County, both outside Washington so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside WA (347 bridges here).
- Fillmore County, MN · 348 bridges
- Cumberland County, NC · 348 bridges
- Mahoning County, OH · 348 bridges
- Cumberland County, PA · 348 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
- Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
- Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (154)
SR 272
FairOver: BNRR (ABANDONED)
16.4 E JCT US 195, Whitman, WA
Built 1972 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 614
US 195
FairOver: UPRR (ABANDONED)
7.9 N JCT SR 23, Whitman, WA
Built 1964 Load: 44.4 t ADT: 4,027
US 195
FairOver: DRY CREEK
5.7 N JCT SR 26, Whitman, WA
Built 1954 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 4,905
US 195
FairOver: BNRR (ABANDONED)
5.6 N JCT SR 23, Whitman, WA
Built 1962 Load: 61.7 t ADT: 4,027
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.