Total bridges
114
Public highway bridges in Brown County
County profile · official public datasets
114 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 20.2% rated Good, 63.2% Fair, 16.7% Poor.
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.
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.
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.
Total bridges
114
Public highway bridges in Brown County
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
Share of 114 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
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.
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.
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.
114 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
Built before 1900
2 bridges
1900–1909
1 bridges
1910–1919
2 bridges
1920–1929
11 bridges
1930–1939
14 bridges
1940–1949
3 bridges
1950–1959
3 bridges
1960–1969
24 bridges
1970–1979
20 bridges
1980–1989
16 bridges
1990–1999
8 bridges
2000–2009
3 bridges
2010–2019
6 bridges
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.
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.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Brown County, both outside Indiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside IN (114 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1964 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: BEAR CREEK
0.1 MI. W. BEAR CREEK RD, Brown, IN
Over: HAMILTON CREEK
0.6 MI. N OF BOB ALLEN RD, Brown, IN
Over: E BRANCH SWEETWATER CREE
0.9 MI. W. SWEETWATER TRL, Brown, IN
Over: BEANBLOSSOM CREEK
05.48 S SR 135, Brown, IN
Over: BEANBLOSSOM CREEK
00.73 S SR 135, Brown, IN
Over: N FORK BEANBLOSSOM CREEK
01.77 S SR 135, Brown, IN
Over: TATER BUG BRANCH
01.36 W SR 135, Brown, IN
Over: PLEASANT VALLEY CREEK
04.64 S SR 46, Brown, IN
Over: LICK CREEK
0 MI. W. OF LICK CREEK RD, Brown, IN
Over: BRIAR CREEK
04.49 S SR 135, Brown, IN
Over: MOUNT LIBERTY CREEK
.1 MI E OF MT. LIBERTY RD, Brown, IN
Over: NORTH FORK SALT CREEK
01.24 E SR 135, Brown, IN
Over: S BR MIDDLE FK SALT CREE
0.1 MI E OF BELLSVILLE PK, Brown, IN
Over: NORTH FORK SALT CREEK
00.99 E SR 135, Brown, IN
Over: BRANCH OF N FORK SALT CR
0.2 MI. S. HAMILTON CR RD, Brown, IN
Over: HAMILTON CREEK
.2 MI S OF HAMILTON CR RD, Brown, IN
Over: NORTH FORK OF SALT CREEK
.4 MI. S. OF SPRUNICA RD., Brown, IN
Over: FORK EAST BR SWEETWATER
1.2 MI E OF BELLSVILLE PK, Brown, IN
Over: LITTLE BEANBLOSSOM CREEK
01.71 N SR 45, Brown, IN
Over: LICK CREEK
00.10 MI. N. OF SR 45, Brown, IN
Over: BARTLETTS BRANCH
06.37 E SR 446, Brown, IN
Over: GREASY CREEK
00.34 E SR 135, Brown, IN
Over: NORTH FORK SALT CREEK
07.00 W SR 135, Brown, IN
Over: BR EAST FK SALT CREEK
1.3 MI N PUMPKIN RIDGE RD, Brown, IN
Over: MIDDLE FORK SALT CREEK
0.1 MI S OF BELLSVILLE PK, Brown, IN
Over: BRANCH BEAN BLOSSOM CREE
00.40 E SR 135, Brown, IN
Over: NORTH FORK OF SALT CREEK
0.0 S OF GREEN VALLEY RD, Brown, IN
Over: INDIANA RR
00.50 MI. E. OF SR 135, Brown, IN
Over: BEAN BLOSSOM CREEK
.1 MI N OF WOODLAND LK RD, Brown, IN
Over: BEANBLOSSOM CREEK
00.30 S SR 45, Brown, IN
Over: POSSUM TROT CREEK
00.10 MI E POSSUM TROT RD, Brown, IN
Over: LOWER SCHOONER CREEK
00.10 W SR 46, Brown, IN
Over: LICK CREEK
0.1 MI E OF OAK GROVE RD, Brown, IN
Over: JACKSON CREEK
1.33 S LANAM RIDGE RD, Brown, IN
Over: GRAVEL CREEK
1.1 MI N OF ELKINSVILE RD, Brown, IN
Over: HAMILTON CREEK
09.45 N SR 58, Brown, IN
Over: GREEN VALLEY CREEK
01.05 W SR 135, Brown, IN
Over: UNT MIDDLE FORK SALT CR
09.03 S SR 46, Brown, IN
Over: MOSER BRANCH
01.57 N SR 45, Brown, IN
Over: GRAVEL CREEK
.1 MI. W. GRAVEL CREEK RD, Brown, IN
Over: GNAW BONE CREEK
00.05 S SR 46, Brown, IN
Over: BR SALT CREEK
07.11 S SR 46, Brown, IN
Over: LICK CREEK
02.87 S SR 135, Brown, IN
Over: PLEASANT VALLEY CREEK
04.46 S SR 46, Brown, IN
Over: PLUM CREEK
05.79 S SR 135, Brown, IN
Over: NORTH FORK OF SALT CREEK
.2MI S OF GREEN VALLEY RD, Brown, IN
Over: MOUNT LIBERTY CREEK
00.10 S 4 MILE RD, Brown, IN
Over: MIDDLE FORK SALT CREEK
0.1 MI S ELKINSVILLE RD, Brown, IN
Over: OWL CREEK
0.4 MI S. OF HELMSBURG RD, Brown, IN
Over: GNAWBONE CREEK
00.10 S SR 46, Brown, IN
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
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.