County profile · official public datasets

Franklin County, IN

159 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34% rated Good, 58.5% Fair, 7.5% Poor.

159
Public bridges: 34%
Good condition: 7.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Franklin 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.

71st
of 92 on Poor share: 7.5%
Poor-condition share: 159
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Franklin County ranks #71 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.5%). Franklin County, Indiana contains 159 public highway bridges. Roughly 34% are rated “Good,” 58.5% “Fair,” and 7.5% “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

159

Public highway bridges in Franklin County

Good condition

34%

54 of 159 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.5%

93 of 159 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.5%

12 of 159 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#71 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 159 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34% (54)

Fair

58.5% (93)

Poor

7.5% (12)

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,675 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 243 crossings a day against 1,178 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 158 of 159 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

45.3% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

72 of the 159 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 34% 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 13.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

N HAMBURG RD over BULL FORK SALT CREEK, built 1975, 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,675 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

4
1900s

10
1910s

3
1920s

15
1930s

4
1940s

1
1950s

4
1960s

14
1970s

26
1980s

12
1990s

18
2000s

32
2010s

11
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 32 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1972, 6 years older than the Indiana average of 1978.

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Franklin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 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 Franklin County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Lawrence County	165	32.1%	58.2%	9.7%	1981
Jennings County	163	39.9%	50.3%	9.8%	1973
Carroll County	161	37.3%	60.2%	2.5%	1973
Franklin County (this page)	159	34%	58.5%	7.5%	1972
Wells County	158	39.2%	55.1%	5.7%	1978
Jefferson County	153	41.8%	54.2%	3.9%	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 Franklin 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 Franklin County, both outside Indiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (159 bridges here).

Decatur County, KS · 159 bridges
Cheyenne County, NE · 159 bridges
Morgan County, OH · 159 bridges
Fulton County, PA · 159 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 159 Good 54 Fair 93 Poor 12

Good-condition bridges (54)

Sort:

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,675 vehicle crossings a day

45.3% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 13.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Franklin 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 (54)

RIVER ROAD

LAST ROAD

RIVER ROAD

WALNUT FORK RD

BLUE CREEK RD

INDIAN UNDERPASS

BLUE CREEK RD

JOHNSON FORK RD

US 52

US 52

I-74 EB

LAUREL RD

FOX RUN RD

BATH RD

PIPE CREEK RD

BIG CEDAR SOUTH RD

JOHNSON FORK RD

HARVEY BRANCH RD

LITTLE CEDAR CK RD

VINE ST

ELKHORN RD

HAMBURG RD

RUSSELL RD

PIPE CREEK RD

JOHNSON FORK RD

CASTLE RD

MID RD

SS MARYS RD

DREWERSBURG RD

SNAIL CREEK RD

US 52

ST PETERS RD

SR 1

COLUMBUS AVE

SR 252

FAIRFIELD CAUSEWAY

SR 229

RAIL FENCE RD

BULL FORK RD

US 52

I-74 WB

DUCK CREEK RD

STOCKPILE RD

SR 121

POSSUM HOLLOW RD

HUNTERSVILLE RD

VOTE RD

GRAF RD

US 52

SR 46

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