County profile · official public datasets

Bartholomew County, IN

269 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 53.5% rated Good, 43.1% Fair, 3.3% Poor.

269
Public bridges: 53.5%
Good condition: 3.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 34%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.3%
Poor-condition share: 269
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Bartholomew County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bartholomew County ranks #31 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.3%). Bartholomew County, Indiana contains 269 public highway bridges. Roughly 53.5% are rated “Good,” 43.1% “Fair,” and 3.3% “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

269

Public highway bridges in Bartholomew County

Good condition

53.5%

144 of 269 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.1%

116 of 269 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.3%

9 of 269 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#31 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 269 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

53.5% (144)

Fair

43.1% (116)

Poor

3.3% (9)

Bartholomew County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,510 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,279 crossings a day against 4,274 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 269 of 269 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

32.7% of Bartholomew County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

88 of the 269 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 53.5% 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 37.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CR 400S over BRUSH CREEK, built 1995, carries 4,300 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 11,510 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

6
1920s

5
1930s

9
1940s

4
1950s

8
1960s

42
1970s

28
1980s

56
1990s

42
2000s

40
2010s

19
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 56 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Indiana average (1978).

How Bartholomew County compares with Indiana's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Bartholomew County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.3% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 7 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 91 Indiana counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bartholomew County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Grant County	280	38.6%	59.6%	1.8%	1975
Vanderburgh County	279	47.7%	48%	4.3%	1980
Elkhart County	278	38.1%	55.8%	6.1%	1975
Delaware County	277	31.8%	62.8%	5.4%	1976
Porter County	277	42.6%	52%	5.4%	1970
Bartholomew County (this page)	269	53.5%	43.1%	3.3%	1982

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 Bartholomew 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 Bartholomew County, both outside Indiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (269 bridges here).

Grundy County, IL · 269 bridges
Rensselaer County, NY · 269 bridges
Harrison County, TX · 269 bridges
Manitowoc County, WI · 269 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 269 Good 144 Fair 116 Poor 9

All bridges (269)

Sort:

Bartholomew County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bartholomew County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,510 vehicle crossings a day

32.7% of Bartholomew County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 37.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bartholomew County compares with Indiana's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

All bridges (269)

CR 300N

SPRAY RD

WOLF CREEK RD

CR 525E

CR 450N

WEST LOWELL RD

CR 1150E

CR 1000E

CR 500N

CR 525E

CR 900S

CR 400N

CR 500 N

SR 58

SR 9

US 31

CR 450S

CR 925E

CR 100 N

CR 800N

CR 950 S

CR 800N

8TH ST (EAST)

CR 500E

SPRAY RD

CR 1050E

CR 550N

CR 575E

10TH ST (WEST)

SR 46 EB

CR 125S

CR 800S

I-65 NB

CR 900E

CR 200S

CR 400W

CR 300 N/LOWELL RD

CR 800S

CR 150W

CR 625 S

SR 46

SR 46

CR 450N

CR 325W

CR 450E

CR 750N

I-65

CR 930S

CR 750S

CR 800 N

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