County profile · official public datasets

Benton County, IN

151 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.7% rated Good, 52.3% Fair, 2% Poor.

151
Public bridges: 45.7%
Good condition: 2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Benton County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 15%
lowest Poor share in state: 2%
Poor-condition share: 151
public highway bridges: 1986
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.

Benton County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Benton County ranks #14 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2%). Benton County, Indiana contains 151 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.7% are rated “Good,” 52.3% “Fair,” and 2% “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

151

Public highway bridges in Benton County

Good condition

45.7%

69 of 151 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52.3%

79 of 151 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3 of 151 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#14 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 151 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45.7% (69)

Fair

52.3% (79)

Poor

2% (3)

Benton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 170 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 57 crossings a day against 278 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 151 of 151 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

33.8% of Benton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

51 of the 151 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 45.7% 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 41.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CR 900S over BIG PINE CREEK, built 1959, carries 70 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 170 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1930s

2
1940s

1
1950s

7
1960s

26
1970s

22
1980s

16
1990s

35
2000s

22
2010s

16
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1986, 8 years newer than the Indiana average of 1978.

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Benton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Benton County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jefferson County	153	41.8%	54.2%	3.9%	1977
Kosciusko County	152	38.2%	55.3%	6.6%	1975
Perry County	151	41.1%	57%	2%	1978
Benton County (this page)	151	45.7%	52.3%	2%	1986
Owen County	150	38.7%	51.3%	10%	1978
DeKalb County	149	40.9%	59.1%	0%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (151 bridges here).

Randolph County, AR · 151 bridges
Pasco County, FL · 151 bridges
St. Lucie County, FL · 151 bridges
Hall County, GA · 151 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1986 here).

El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges

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

All 151 Good 69 Fair 79 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (69)

Sort:

Benton County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Benton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 170 vehicle crossings a day

33.8% of Benton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 41.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Benton 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

Good-condition bridges (69)

CR 1000W

CR 1000E

CR 500S

CR 500W

CR 125W

CR 400N

CR 300W

CR 100W

CR 500W

CR 600E

CR 1100W

SR 71

CR 200W

CR 1100W

CR 900E

CR 500N

CR 400S

CR 200E

CR 400W

CR 500E

CR 700N

CR 200N

CR 300S

CR 500W

CR 400E

CR 1100W

CR 600E

CR 100W

CR 550N

CR 100S

CR 300 EAST

CR 300 E

CR 1100W

CR 400N

CR 400E

US 41 NB

US 52 EB

SR 352

CR 900S

CR 500S

CR 300N

CR 100N

CR 150S

CR 975E

SR 55

CR 400S

CR 600S

OLD US 52 US 41

CR 225N

CR 300S

Related