Total bridges
114
Public highway bridges in Brown County
County profile · official public datasets
Brown County, IN
114 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 20.2% rated Good, 63.2% Fair, 16.7% Poor.
- 114
- Public bridges
- 20.2%
- Good condition
- 16.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Brown County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.
- 89th
- of 92 on Poor share
- 16.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 114
- public highway bridges
- 1964
- 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.
Brown County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Brown County ranks #89 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 16.7%). Brown County, Indiana contains 114 public highway bridges. Roughly 20.2% are rated “Good,” 63.2% “Fair,” and 16.7% “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.
Good condition
20.2%
23 of 114 rated 7-9
Fair condition
63.2%
72 of 114 rated 5-6
Poor condition
16.7%
19 of 114 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#89 of 92
Among Indiana counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 114 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 20.2% (23)
Fair 63.2% (72)
Poor 16.7% (19)
Brown County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,250 vehicle crossings a day
That is 2.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 236 crossings a day against 1,496 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 113 of 114 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
64% of Brown County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
73 of the 114 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 20.2% 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 17.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
TC STEELE ROAD over NORTH FORK OF SALT CREEK, built 1957, carries 750 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 4,250 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Brown County's bridges were built
114 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 2
Built before 1900
2 bridges
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1920s
1920–1929
11 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
14 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s 3
1950–1959
3 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
24 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
20 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
16 bridges
- 1990s 8
1990–1999
8 bridges
- 2000s 3
2000–2009
3 bridges
- 2010s 6
2010–2019
6 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 24 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1964, 14 years older than the Indiana average of 1978.
How Brown County compares with Indiana's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Indiana counties nearest Brown County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 16.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1964 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 14 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 91 Indiana counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crawford County | 123 | 34.1% | 48.8% | 17.1% | 1964 |
| Scott County | 118 | 47.5% | 46.6% | 5.9% | 1982 |
| Whitley County | 115 | 41.7% | 58.3% | 0% | 1984 |
| Brown County (this page) | 114 | 20.2% | 63.2% | 16.7% | 1964 |
| Tipton County | 113 | 42.5% | 55.8% | 1.8% | 1983 |
| Martin County | 104 | 40.4% | 51.9% | 7.7% | 1977 |
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 Brown 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 Brown County, both outside Indiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside IN (114 bridges here).
- Calhoun County, AR · 114 bridges
- Schuyler County, IL · 114 bridges
- Morgan County, KY · 114 bridges
- Dallas County, MO · 114 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1964 here).
- Bergen County, NJ · avg 1964 · 577 bridges
- Morris County, NJ · avg 1964 · 508 bridges
- Baltimore city County, MD · avg 1964 · 374 bridges
- Ross County, OH · avg 1964 · 356 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (19)
BOND CEMETERY ROAD
PoorOver: NORTH FORK OF SALT CREEK
.2MI S OF GREEN VALLEY RD, Brown, IN
Built 1908 Load: 0.0 t
MOUNT LIBERTY ROAD
PoorOver: MOUNT LIBERTY CREEK
00.10 S 4 MILE RD, Brown, IN
Built 1929 Load: 2.7 t ADT: 150
KIRKS FORD ROAD
PoorOver: MIDDLE FORK SALT CREEK
0.1 MI S ELKINSVILLE RD, Brown, IN
Built 1915 Load: 3.4 t ADT: 15
COUNTRY CLUB RD
PoorOver: OWL CREEK
0.4 MI S. OF HELMSBURG RD, Brown, IN
Built 1945 Load: 3.6 t ADT: 150
MOUNT LIBERTY ROAD
PoorOver: GNAWBONE CREEK
00.10 S SR 46, Brown, IN
Built 1940 Load: 4.9 t ADT: 275
DOTY ROAD
PoorOver: MOUNT LIBERTY CREEK
0.1 MI S OF MT LIBERTY RD, Brown, IN
Built 1979 Load: 13.7 t ADT: 10
HARRISON RIDGE ROA
PoorOver: S BR MIDDLE FK SALT CREE
0.6 MI N OF BELLSVILLE PK, Brown, IN
Built 1983 Load: 14.8 t ADT: 100
WALLOW HOLLOW ROAD
PoorOver: CLAY LICK CREEK
0.1 MI N OF CLAY LICK RD, Brown, IN
Built 1932 Load: 15.0 t ADT: 100
BLUE CREEK ROAD
PoorOver: LITTLE BLUE CREEK
1.2 MI. N. ELKINSVILLE RD, Brown, IN
Built 1969 Load: 15.7 t ADT: 50
TC STEELE ROAD
PoorOver: NORTH FORK OF SALT CREEK
00.20 S SR 46, Brown, IN
Built 1957 Load: 16.4 t ADT: 750
CROOKED CREEK ROAD
PoorOver: CROOKED CREEK
1.2 MI. N OF TC STEELE RD, Brown, IN
Built 1925 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 100
ORCHARD ROAD
PoorOver: MIDDLE FORK SALT CREEK
0.1 MI. EAST OF SR 135, Brown, IN
Built 1979 Load: 20.6 t ADT: 300
ELKINSVILLE ROAD
PoorOver: MIDDLE FORK SALT CREEK
0.1 MI S OF BLUE CREEK RD, Brown, IN
Built 1984 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 100
GATESVILLE ROAD
PoorOver: NORTH FORK OF SALT CREEK
0.1 MI W OF SWEETWATER TR, Brown, IN
Built 1963 Load: 24.9 t ADT: 625
PLUM CREEK ROAD
PoorOver: PLUM CREEK
00.30 MI. E. OF SR 45, Brown, IN
Built 1969 Load: 25.6 t ADT: 325
OWL CREEK ROAD
PoorOver: OWL CREEK
0.1 MI W of HELMSBURG RD, Brown, IN
Built 1930 Load: 28.0 t ADT: 600
HOOVER ROAD
PoorOver: SWEETWATER CREEK
0 MI. E OF SWEETWATER TR., Brown, IN
Built 1970 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 300
WEBBER HILL ROAD
PoorOver: NORTH FORK OF SALT CREEK
00.00 W UP SALT CR ROAD, Brown, IN
Built 1966 Load: 38.2 t ADT: 100
NORTH SHORE DRIVE
PoorOver: BRANCH BEAN BLOSSOM CREE
00.40 W BEAR CREEK RD, Brown, IN
Built 1935 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 200
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.