County profile · official public datasets

Jay County, IN

191 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45% rated Good, 48.7% Fair, 6.3% Poor.

191
Public bridges: 45%
Good condition: 6.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

64th
of 92 on Poor share: 6.3%
Poor-condition share: 191
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Jay County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jay County ranks #64 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.3%). Jay County, Indiana contains 191 public highway bridges. Roughly 45% are rated “Good,” 48.7% “Fair,” and 6.3% “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

191

Public highway bridges in Jay County

Good condition

45%

86 of 191 rated 7-9

Fair condition

48.7%

93 of 191 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.3%

12 of 191 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#64 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 191 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45% (86)

Fair

48.7% (93)

Poor

6.3% (12)

Jay County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,138 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 762 crossings a day against 638 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 191 of 191 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

34% of Jay County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

65 of the 191 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 45% 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 62.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 67 over SALAMONIE RIVER, built 1987, carries 5,744 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 9,138 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1930s

2
1940s

2
1950s

7
1960s

24
1970s

41
1980s

44
1990s

47
2000s

18
2010s

3
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 47 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Indiana average (1978).

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Jay County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.3% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jay County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Adams County	194	45.4%	53.6%	1%	1983
Howard County	194	40.2%	55.2%	4.6%	1976
Wabash County	192	28.1%	65.6%	6.3%	1976
Ripley County	191	36.1%	60.7%	3.1%	1972
Jay County (this page)	191	45%	48.7%	6.3%	1982
Jasper County	189	34.9%	64.6%	0.5%	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 Jay 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 Jay County, both outside Indiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (191 bridges here).

Atchison County, MO · 191 bridges
Pawnee County, NE · 191 bridges
Webster County, NE · 191 bridges
Milam County, TX · 191 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 191 Good 86 Fair 93 Poor 12

All bridges (191)

Sort:

Jay County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jay County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,138 vehicle crossings a day

34% of Jay County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 62.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jay 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 (191)

SR 26

SR 67

CR 300S

CR 300W

CR 550W

CR 500S

DIVISION ROAD

CR 900S

SR 26

US 27

CR 400W

CR 500S

CR 200E

CR 300W

TREATY LINE ROAD

CR 350S

CR 475E

CR 500S

CR 750W

CR 1250W

CR 250E

CR 600S

CR 400N

CR 400N

CR 650E

CR 750W

SR 26

SR 1

SR 26

CR 300E

CR 1100W

CR 400N

CR 350W

CR 700W

CR 300E

CR 800S

CR 200N

BLUFFTON ROAD

SR 26

CR 400S

SR 67

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