County profile · official public datasets

Cass County, IN

185 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.6% rated Good, 49.7% Fair, 1.6% Poor.

185
Public bridges: 48.6%
Good condition: 1.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cass 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 11%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.6%
Poor-condition share: 185
public highway bridges: 1988
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.

Cass County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cass County ranks #10 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.6%). Cass County, Indiana contains 185 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.6% are rated “Good,” 49.7% “Fair,” and 1.6% “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

185

Public highway bridges in Cass County

Good condition

48.6%

90 of 185 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.7%

92 of 185 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.6%

3 of 185 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#10 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 185 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.6% (90)

Fair

49.7% (92)

Poor

1.6% (3)

Cass County's Poor-condition bridges carry 620 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 207 crossings a day against 2,384 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 185 of 185 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

21.1% of Cass County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

39 of the 185 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 48.6% 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 56.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SOUTH RIVER RD over MINNOW CREEK, built 1993, carries 350 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 620 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

3
1930s

6
1950s

4
1960s

13
1970s

32
1980s

38
1990s

31
2000s

23
2010s

27
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 38 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1988, 10 years newer than the Indiana average of 1978.

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Cass County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.6% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1988 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cass County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jay County	191	45%	48.7%	6.3%	1982
Jasper County	189	34.9%	64.6%	0.5%	1982
Huntington County	187	36.9%	59.4%	3.7%	1978
Clay County	185	33%	56.2%	10.8%	1974
Cass County (this page)	185	48.6%	49.7%	1.6%	1988
Marshall County	183	55.2%	41.5%	3.3%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (185 bridges here).

Chambers County, AL · 185 bridges
Maui County, HI · 185 bridges
Lawrence County, IL · 185 bridges
Saline County, IL · 185 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1988 here).

Travis County, TX · avg 1988 · 1,544 bridges
Grant County, OK · avg 1988 · 476 bridges
Loudoun County, VA · avg 1988 · 442 bridges
Licking County, OH · avg 1988 · 439 bridges

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

All 185 Good 90 Fair 92 Poor 3

All bridges (185)

Sort:

Cass County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cass County's Poor-condition bridges carry 620 vehicle crossings a day

21.1% of Cass County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 56.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cass 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 (185)

CR 1100E

CR 400 NORTH

CR 600 EAST

CR 450N

CR 325N

CR 275 WEST

CR 300 NORTH

CR 650 SOUTH

CR 450S

US 24 WB

ROYAL CENTER PIKE

SR 18

US 35

CR 600 SOUTH

CR 825E

SR 17 (3RD ST)

US 24/US 35

SOUTH RIVER ROAD

SR 25

SR 16

SR 16

CR 700 WEST

CR 300 WEST

CR 550 NORTH

CR 100 EAST

CR 400N

OLD SR25 / CICOTT

CR 525 WEST

CR 1050 WEST

CR 775N

CR 925E

CR 725W

CR 450 EAST

CR 150N

CR 200 NORTH

PERRYSBURG ROAD

CR 150 NORTH

CR 600 EAST

CR 600 SOUTH

CR 300 EAST

CR 400 EAST

CR 350S

CR 300 EAST

CR 200 EAST

CR 1000 EAST

CR 1300 SOUTH

LOGANSPORT ROAD

CR 225S

CR 1300 SOUTH

CR 1400 SOUTH

Related