County profile · official public datasets

Fayette County, IN

100 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33% rated Good, 57% Fair, 10% Poor.

100
Public bridges: 33%
Good condition: 10%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

84th
of 92 on Poor share: 10%
Poor-condition share: 100
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Fayette County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fayette County ranks #84 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10%). Fayette County, Indiana contains 100 public highway bridges. Roughly 33% are rated “Good,” 57% “Fair,” and 10% “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

100

Public highway bridges in Fayette County

Good condition

33%

33 of 100 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57%

57 of 100 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10%

10 of 100 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#84 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 100 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33% (33)

Fair

57% (57)

Poor

10% (10)

Fayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,500 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 250 crossings a day against 1,595 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 100 of 100 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39% of Fayette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

39 of the 100 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 33% 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 23% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

12TH ST over LITTLE WILLIAMS CREEK, built 1968, carries 575 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,500 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

4
1950s

1
1960s

16
1970s

23
1980s

20
1990s

19
2000s

8
2010s

5
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Indiana average (1978).

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Fayette County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Fayette County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Tipton County	113	42.5%	55.8%	1.8%	1983
Martin County	104	40.4%	51.9%	7.7%	1977
Pulaski County	102	34.3%	62.7%	2.9%	1976
LaGrange County	100	45%	54%	1%	1974
Fayette County (this page)	100	33%	57%	10%	1981
Noble County	89	41.6%	49.4%	9%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (100 bridges here).

Ketchikan Gateway County, AK · 100 bridges
Gunnison County, CO · 100 bridges
Monroe County, FL · 100 bridges
Cheyenne County, KS · 100 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 100 Good 33 Fair 57 Poor 10

All bridges (100)

Sort:

Fayette County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Fayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,500 vehicle crossings a day

39% of Fayette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 23% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fayette 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 (100)

CR 200N

CR 420S

SR 44

ELEPHANT HILL Rd

CR 350W

LONGWOOD RD

PACE RD

CR 400S

LITTLE BEAR RD

CR 150N

CR 350E

SR 1

SR 121

TWIN DRY BRANCH RD

CR 50W

CR 300N

JOHNSON SCHOOL Rd

CR 300N

SR 121

CR 200E

CR 350E

ALQUINA RD

SPRINGERSVILLE RD.

CR 450E

ALQUINA RD

SR 44

CR 200N

ALLENTOWN Rd

CR 200N

CR 200N

CR 40N

CR 450E

CR 450E

CR 440N

CR 425S

SR 44

CR 560W

CR 500N

CR 700N

COLTRAINE HILL Rd

WILLIAMS RD

CR 450E

CR 250N

VETERANS MEMORIAL

CR 250W

CR 350W

CR 440N

CR 75N

WILLIAMS RD

CR 150E

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