County profile · official public datasets

LaPorte County, IN

227 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.5% rated Good, 59.9% Fair, 6.6% Poor.

227
Public bridges: 33.5%
Good condition: 6.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

LaPorte 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.

66th
of 92 on Poor share: 6.6%
Poor-condition share: 227
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.

LaPorte County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, LaPorte County ranks #66 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.6%). LaPorte County, Indiana contains 227 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.5% are rated “Good,” 59.9% “Fair,” and 6.6% “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

227

Public highway bridges in LaPorte County

Good condition

33.5%

76 of 227 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.9%

136 of 227 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.6%

15 of 227 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#66 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 227 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33.5% (76)

Fair

59.9% (136)

Poor

6.6% (15)

LaPorte County's Poor-condition bridges carry 28,580 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,905 crossings a day against 8,150 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 227 of 227 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.2% of LaPorte County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

114 of the 227 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 33.5% 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 83.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

E MICHIGAN BLVD over TRAIL CREEK, built 1958, carries 23,875 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 28,580 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

8
1930s

16
1940s

4
1950s

51
1960s

16
1970s

38
1980s

47
1990s

17
2000s

15
2010s

12
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 51 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1972, 6 years older than the Indiana average of 1978.

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest LaPorte County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is 11 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for LaPorte County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Monroe County	232	62.1%	35.8%	2.2%	1988
Johnson County	230	41.3%	50.4%	8.3%	1983
Rush County	227	25.6%	70.5%	4%	1970
St. Joseph County	227	49.8%	45.4%	4.8%	1980
LaPorte County (this page)	227	33.5%	59.9%	6.6%	1972
Daviess County	221	59.3%	40.7%	0%	1993

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (227 bridges here).

Yell County, AR · 227 bridges
McHenry County, IL · 227 bridges
Allen County, KS · 227 bridges
Ohio County, KY · 227 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 227 Good 76 Fair 136 Poor 15

Fair-condition bridges (136)

Sort:

LaPorte County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

LaPorte County's Poor-condition bridges carry 28,580 vehicle crossings a day

50.2% of LaPorte County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 83.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How LaPorte 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 (136)

WILHELM ROAD

US 6

GOLDRING ROAD

FAIL RD

I-90 RAMP/US 421

CR 1100S

BLECK ROAD

CR 1600S

CR 200E

CR 600W

I-90 EB

I-90 WB

CR 350N

BOWELL RD/CR 300 E

CR 1800S

CR 1050W

CR 700W

I-90 WB

CR 650W

CR 1400S

CR 950W

I-90 RAMP/SR 39

I-90 WB

CR 500E

I-90 EB

CR 1700S

CR 600W

CR 1025W

CR 1400S

CR 300N

CR 1800S

US 20

ROESKE AVENUE

CR 1850S

KARWICK ROAD

SR 39

Related