County profile · official public datasets

Yakima County, WA

558 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 58.2% rated Good, 36.7% Fair, 5% Poor.

558
Public bridges: 58.2%
Good condition: 5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Yakima County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.

Top 46%
lowest Poor share in state: 5%
Poor-condition share: 558
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Yakima County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Yakima County ranks #18 of 39 Washington counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5%). Yakima County, Washington contains 558 public highway bridges. Roughly 58.2% are rated “Good,” 36.7% “Fair,” and 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.

Total bridges

558

Public highway bridges in Yakima County

Good condition

58.2%

325 of 558 rated 7-9

Fair condition

36.7%

205 of 558 rated 5-6

Poor condition

28 of 558 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#18 of 39

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

Condition distribution

Share of 558 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

58.2% (325)

Fair

36.7% (205)

Poor

5% (28)

Yakima County's Poor-condition bridges carry 150,395 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 5,371 crossings a day against 2,820 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 558 of 558 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

56.1% of Yakima County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

313 of the 558 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 58.2% 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 18.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-82 over WASTEWATER NUMBER 3, built 1980, carries 28,146 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 28-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 150,395 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

4
1920s

4
1930s

23
1940s

17
1950s

79
1960s

123
1970s

113
1980s

74
1990s

48
2000s

38
2010s

29
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 123 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Washington average (1975).

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

The 5 Washington counties nearest Yakima County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Yakima County and the 5 Washington counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Yakima County (this page)	558	58.2%	36.7%	5%	1973
Snohomish County	500	49%	47%	4%	1980
Pierce County	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 Yakima 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 Yakima County, both outside Washington so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WA (558 bridges here).

Larimer County, CO · 559 bridges
Chautauqua County, NY · 559 bridges
Pottawattamie County, IA · 557 bridges
Buncombe County, NC · 555 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WA (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 558 Good 325 Fair 205 Poor 28

Good-condition bridges (325)

Sort:

Yakima County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Yakima County's Poor-condition bridges carry 150,395 vehicle crossings a day

56.1% of Yakima County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 18.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Yakima 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 (325)

FACTORY ROAD

SIMMONS ROAD

FACTORY ROAD

FLETCHER LANE

GOODMAN RD. - IRR

SO 48TH AVENUE

KNIGHT HILL RD.

Roza Hill Drive

JENSEN RD.

COUNTY LINE ROAD

LUNDBERG RD.

MAPLE GROVE ROAD

TERRACE HTS DR

CHEYNE RD.

US 12

BEAUCHENE ROAD

TIETON RESERVOIR

BARKES RD.

COWICHE CANYON LN.

REST HAVEN ROAD

WASHOUT ROAD

42ND AVE. S.

BIRCHFIELD ROAD

HIGGINS LANE

96th Ave. S.

WASHOUT ROAD

BEANE ROAD

FORDYCE RD.

NOYE ROAD

LATERAL B RD.

PROGRESSIVE RD.

DEKKER RD.

SR 22

EDISON RD. E.

COWICHE MILL RD.

SR 22

SR 22

I-82

I-82

I-82

BETHANY ROAD

BEANE ROAD

42ND AVE. S.

SATUS RD. W.

SR 22

FAUCHER ROAD

MCKINLEY RD. S.

FACTORY ROAD

WIDE HOLLOW ROAD

OLMSTEAD ROAD

Related