Santa Cruz County has 98 bridges that are maintained by the County. 81 bridges are on the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) inventory of National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) and they are inspected by the State Department of Transportation (Caltrans). The bridges must be longer than 20 feet to be part of the NBIS inventory. The remaining 17 bridges are inspected by the County. Routine maintenance is performed by the County’s maintenance crew.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has a safety program that provides federal-aid to local agencies to replace and rehabilitate locally owned public highway bridges that are in the NBIS inventory. The County has applied for this funding and currently has 12 bridges that are programmed for replacement. FHWA also has a bridge preventative maintenance program and the County currently has six bridges that have been programmed.
