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Washington Division

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Bridge Program

National Bridge Inspection Program

FHWA requires inspections of all bridges carrying traffic on public roads to insure their safety and reliability. This program was initially mandated in the Federal-aid Highway Act of 1968, which led to the National Bridge Inspection Standards established in the Federal Register in 1971.

The NBIS (23 CFR 650, Subpart C) require States to:

Washington State Bridges

The data provided below for the State of Washington is based on the National Bridge Inventory (NBI) data that was submitted into the Federal database in March 2019 and released as of June 15, 2019. In Washington State, there are 8,271 bridges carrying public roads that are subject to the Federal inspection requirements. Of those structures, 3,344 are State owned, 4,127 bridges are owned by local agencies, and 800 owned by other agencies (Federal, Tribal, Private, Parks, etc.).

Other key statistics for State and Local owned structures:

Pie chart graph of Washington state and local owned bridge condition for year 2018: 52.4% good, 43% fair; 4.6% poor

Page last modified on May 26, 2020