Total bridges
227
Public highway bridges in LaPorte County
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.
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.
When LaPorte County's bridges were built
227 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 8
1920–1929
8 bridges
- 1930s 16
1930–1939
16 bridges
- 1940s 4
1940–1949
4 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
51 bridges
- 1960s 16
1960–1969
16 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
38 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
47 bridges
- 1990s 17
1990–1999
17 bridges
- 2000s 15
2000–2009
15 bridges
- 2010s 12
2010–2019
12 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (15)
SR 104
PoorOver: KANKAKEE RIVER
03.78 W US 6, LaPorte, IN
Built 1984 Load: 6.5 t ADT: 1,155
CR 1000S
PoorOver: KANKAKEE RIVER
00.60 W CR 500 E, LaPorte, IN
Built 1981 Load: 14.3 t ADT: 100
CR 800S
PoorOver: WAY DITCH
00.20 W SR 39, LaPorte, IN
Built 1983 Load: 28.5 t ADT: 875
CR 875W
PoorOver: PITNER DITCH
00.10 S CR 2150 S, LaPorte, IN
Built 1987 Load: 31.6 t ADT: 175
E MICHIGAN BLVD
PoorOver: TRAIL CREEK
01.54 N SR 212, LaPorte, IN
Built 1958 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 23,875
CR 50E
PoorOver: KANKAKEE RIVER
00.60 S CR 1300 S, LaPorte, IN
Built 1982 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 100
CR 525W
PoorOver: EAST BRANCH OF TRAIL CR
00.40 N US 20, LaPorte, IN
Built 1976 Load: 38.5 t ADT: 150
CR 1650S
PoorOver: HANNA ARM-TUESBURG DITCH
01.00 W LONG LANE, LaPorte, IN
Built 1924 Load: 38.6 t ADT: 200
RANGE ROAD
PoorOver: KINGSBURY CREEK
00.10 N US 6, LaPorte, IN
Built 1981 Load: 39.8 t ADT: 400
CR 525S
PoorOver: KANKAKEE RIVER
01.20 W CR 100 E, LaPorte, IN
Built 1984 Load: 40.0 t ADT: 200
CR 1200S
PoorOver: LONG DITCH
00.00 W CR 200 E, LaPorte, IN
Built 1979 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 200
RANGE ROAD
PoorOver: PORTER DITCH
00.40 S CR 800 S, LaPorte, IN
Built 1976 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 650
CR 2300S
PoorOver: PITNER DITCH
01.00 W CR 875 W, LaPorte, IN
Built 1982 Load: 43.0 t ADT: 200
CR 525E
PoorOver: LITTLE KANKAKEE RIVER
00.40 S OF DIVISION RD, LaPorte, IN
Built 1984 Load: 46.1 t ADT: 150
CR 250S
PoorOver: TRAVIS DITCH
00.10 W CR 150 E, LaPorte, IN
Built 1989 Load: 48.4 t ADT: 150
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.