County profile · official public datasets

DeKalb County, IN

149 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40.9% rated Good, 59.1% Fair, 0% Poor.

149
Public bridges: 40.9%
Good condition: 0%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

DeKalb County posts a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 3%
lowest Poor share in state: 0%
Poor-condition share: 149
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

DeKalb County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, DeKalb County ranks #3 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). DeKalb County, Indiana contains 149 public highway bridges. Roughly 40.9% are rated “Good,” 59.1% “Fair,” and 0% “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

149

Public highway bridges in DeKalb County

Good condition

40.9%

61 of 149 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.1%

88 of 149 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0 of 149 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#3 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 149 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

40.9% (61)

Fair

59.1% (88)

Poor

0% (0)

33.6% of DeKalb County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

50 of the 149 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 40.9% 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.

pre-1900

1
1900s

1
1920s

1
1930s

4
1940s

2
1950s

5
1960s

25
1970s

26
1980s

34
1990s

28
2000s

12
2010s

6
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 34 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Indiana average (1978).

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest DeKalb County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for DeKalb 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
Benton County	151	45.7%	52.3%	2%	1986
Perry County	151	41.1%	57%	2%	1978
Owen County	150	38.7%	51.3%	10%	1978
DeKalb County (this page)	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 DeKalb 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 DeKalb County, both outside Indiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (149 bridges here).

Tallapoosa County, AL · 149 bridges
Drew County, AR · 149 bridges
Madison County, AR · 149 bridges
Walker County, GA · 149 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 149 Good 61 Fair 88 Poor 0

Fair-condition bridges (88)

Sort:

DeKalb County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

33.6% of DeKalb County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

How DeKalb 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

Fair-condition bridges (88)

CR 55

CR 63

AUBURN ROAD

CR 27

CR 34

CR 40

CR 79

CR 7A

CR 16

CR 56

CR 3

CR 28

CR 18

CR 71

CR 52

CR 79

CR 32

CR 64

CR 55

SR 427

CR 19

CR 7A

CR 71

SR 8

CR 35

CR 36A

CR 52

US 6

CR 19

CR 427

CR 24

CR 39

CR 71

CR 68

CR 48

CR 36

CR 40

CR 57

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