There are 101 bridges in the County inventory (this excludes private, city, forest service, and state bridges).
Current County Bridge Inventory (PDF), Bridge Inspection Photos from 1942
For Bridge Load Limits please contact our office.
During the bridge construction boom of the 1950’s and 1960’s, little emphasis
was placed on the safety inspection and maintenance of bridges. This changed
when the 2,235-foot Silver Bridge, at Point Pleasant, West Virginia collapsed
into the Ohio River on December 15th, 1967 – killing 46 people.
This tragic event aroused national interest in the safety inspection and maintenance
of bridges. In 1971, the US Congress and the Secretary of Transportation established
the National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS).
The National Bridge Inspection Standards is a Federal regulation establishing
requirements for bridge inspection procedures, frequency of inspections, qualifications
of inspection personnel, inspection reports, and preparation and maintenance
of a National Bridge Inventory (NBI). The NBIS apply to all structures of 20
feet or more in length located on public roads.
There are currently 97 bridges on the National Bridge Inventory located in Tillamook
County. These structures are inspected every two years by certified bridge inspectors.
To satisfy the Federal regulations, the State is responsible for these inspections.
The Oregon Department of Transportation contracts with engineering firms to
make inspections and submit reports.
There are 14 bridges in Tillamook County that are not on the National Bridge
Inventory. These are bridges with lengths of less than 20 feet. These Non-NBIS
structures must also be inspected every two years by a certified bridge inspector
and are inspected using NBIS standards. It is the responsibility of the local
agencies to ensure that these bridges are inspected.
Tillamook County generally opts to conduct inspections of its non-NBIS bridges
at the same time that ODOT has the NBIS bridges inspected.
For More Information on bridges in general and throughout the state, please visit the ODOT website through our Related Links page. For a photograph of a private bridge over Bewley Creek that failed click here.
Last Updated: Wednesday, June 03, 2020 04:41 PM
