County profile · official public datasets

Delaware County, IN

277 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 31.8% rated Good, 62.8% Fair, 5.4% Poor.

277
Public bridges: 31.8%
Good condition: 5.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Delaware County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

54th
of 92 on Poor share: 5.4%
Poor-condition share: 277
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Delaware County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Delaware County ranks #54 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.4%). Delaware County, Indiana contains 277 public highway bridges. Roughly 31.8% are rated “Good,” 62.8% “Fair,” and 5.4% “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

277

Public highway bridges in Delaware County

Good condition

31.8%

88 of 277 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.8%

174 of 277 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.4%

15 of 277 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#54 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 277 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

31.8% (88)

Fair

62.8% (174)

Poor

5.4% (15)

Delaware County's Poor-condition bridges carry 66,495 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,433 crossings a day against 4,430 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 277 of 277 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.4% of Delaware County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

148 of the 277 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 31.8% 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 22.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-69 SB over KILLBUCK CREEK, built 1963, carries 14,852 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 66,495 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

3
1920s

5
1930s

13
1940s

3
1950s

11
1960s

70
1970s

49
1980s

53
1990s

29
2000s

16
2010s

21
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 70 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Indiana average (1978).

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Delaware County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.4% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Delaware County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Grant County	280	38.6%	59.6%	1.8%	1975
Vanderburgh County	279	47.7%	48%	4.3%	1980
Elkhart County	278	38.1%	55.8%	6.1%	1975
Porter County	277	42.6%	52%	5.4%	1970
Delaware County (this page)	277	31.8%	62.8%	5.4%	1976
Bartholomew County	269	53.5%	43.1%	3.3%	1982

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (277 bridges here).

Navajo County, AZ · 277 bridges
Shelby County, OH · 277 bridges
Florence County, SC · 277 bridges
Edgar County, IL · 278 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1976 here).

Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges
New Castle County, DE · avg 1976 · 527 bridges

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

All 277 Good 88 Fair 174 Poor 15

Good-condition bridges (88)

Sort:

Delaware County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Delaware County's Poor-condition bridges carry 66,495 vehicle crossings a day

53.4% of Delaware County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 22.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Delaware 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 (88)

CR 560 EAST

CR 300S

CR 575 EAST

SR 332

BELL CREEK ROAD

CR 550E

TIGER DRIVE

BURLINGTON ROAD

I-69 NB

EATON-ALBANY PIKE

US 35 NB

US 35 SB

CR 625E

East Jackson Stree

CR 600E

CR 200W

US 35/SR 28

SR 67/ CR 800 W

CR 375W

EATON ALBANY PIKE

CR 800E

NEBO ROAD

FLOYD DRIVE

NICHOLS AVE

CR 300W

JACKSON STREET

HERRON POINTE PARK

CR 200W

SR 67

CR 800S

I-69 SB

CR 800S

I-69 NB

SOUTH COWAN RD.

CR 775E

RIVER VALLEY ROAD

SR 28

CR 1070N

CR 950N

CR 800 WEST

SR 167

BURKMILL ROAD

ORR ROAD

CR 170S

NEBO ROAD

US 35 NB

OLD SR 3/WALNUT ST

CR 700S

WHEELING AVE

US 35 SB

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