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.

When LaPorte County's bridges were built

227 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

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.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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 Poor
Monroe County 232 2.2%
Johnson County 230 8.3%
Rush County 227 4%
St. Joseph County 227 4.8%
LaPorte County (this page) 227 6.6%
Daviess County 221 0%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

All bridges (227)

CR 1900S

Good

Over: PITNER DITCH

01.20 WEST CR 600 W, LaPorte, IN

Built 1987 Load: 45.3 t ADT: 100

US 20 EB / SR 2 WB

Good

Over: US 20 to/from SR 2

07.82 E SR 39, LaPorte, IN

Built 2020 Load: 48.3 t ADT: 4,788

US 6

Good

Over: TRAVIS DITCH

01.08 W US 35 E JCT, LaPorte, IN

Built 1996 Load: 49.6 t ADT: 4,874

CR 875W

Good

Over: W BRANCH TRAIL CREEK

00.10 S OF CR 400 N, LaPorte, IN

Built 2018 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 165

I-90 EB

Good

Over: CONRAIL RR

01.85 E US 421, LaPorte, IN

Built 1956 Load: 50.3 t ADT: 12,615

CR 700N

Good

Over: EAST BRANCH OF TRAIL CR

00.50 W CR 400 W, LaPorte, IN

Built 2002 Load: 51.3 t ADT: 275

I-90 EB

Good

Over: HUNTS ROAD

09.66 E SR 39, LaPorte, IN

Built 1956 Load: 58.6 t ADT: 13,580

I-90 WB

Good

Over: HUNTS ROAD

09.66 E SR 39, LaPorte, IN

Built 1956 Load: 58.6 t ADT: 12,966

I-94 EB

Good

Over: NICTD RR

01.73 E US 20, LaPorte, IN

Built 1969 Load: 60.3 t ADT: 37,476

I-94 WB

Good

Over: NICTD RR

01.73 E US 20, LaPorte, IN

Built 1969 Load: 60.3 t ADT: 19,295

CR 800N

Good

Over: BULL DITCH

00.20 W CR 300 W, LaPorte, IN

Built 2002 Load: 64.3 t ADT: 600

US 421

Good

Over: TOPPER DITCH

01.84 N US 30, LaPorte, IN

Built 1986 Load: 82.9 t ADT: 4,504

SR 104

Poor

Over: KANKAKEE RIVER

03.78 W US 6, LaPorte, IN

Built 1984 Load: 6.5 t ADT: 1,155

CR 1000S

Poor

Over: KANKAKEE RIVER

00.60 W CR 500 E, LaPorte, IN

Built 1981 Load: 14.3 t ADT: 100

CR 800S

Poor

Over: WAY DITCH

00.20 W SR 39, LaPorte, IN

Built 1983 Load: 28.5 t ADT: 875

CR 875W

Poor

Over: PITNER DITCH

00.10 S CR 2150 S, LaPorte, IN

Built 1987 Load: 31.6 t ADT: 175

E MICHIGAN BLVD

Poor

Over: TRAIL CREEK

01.54 N SR 212, LaPorte, IN

Built 1958 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 23,875

CR 50E

Poor

Over: KANKAKEE RIVER

00.60 S CR 1300 S, LaPorte, IN

Built 1982 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 100

CR 525W

Poor

Over: EAST BRANCH OF TRAIL CR

00.40 N US 20, LaPorte, IN

Built 1976 Load: 38.5 t ADT: 150

CR 1650S

Poor

Over: HANNA ARM-TUESBURG DITCH

01.00 W LONG LANE, LaPorte, IN

Built 1924 Load: 38.6 t ADT: 200

RANGE ROAD

Poor

Over: KINGSBURY CREEK

00.10 N US 6, LaPorte, IN

Built 1981 Load: 39.8 t ADT: 400

CR 525S

Poor

Over: KANKAKEE RIVER

01.20 W CR 100 E, LaPorte, IN

Built 1984 Load: 40.0 t ADT: 200

CR 1200S

Poor

Over: LONG DITCH

00.00 W CR 200 E, LaPorte, IN

Built 1979 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 200

RANGE ROAD

Poor

Over: PORTER DITCH

00.40 S CR 800 S, LaPorte, IN

Built 1976 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 650

CR 2300S

Poor

Over: PITNER DITCH

01.00 W CR 875 W, LaPorte, IN

Built 1982 Load: 43.0 t ADT: 200

CR 525E

Poor

Over: LITTLE KANKAKEE RIVER

00.40 S OF DIVISION RD, LaPorte, IN

Built 1984 Load: 46.1 t ADT: 150

CR 250S

Poor

Over: TRAVIS DITCH

00.10 W CR 150 E, LaPorte, IN

Built 1989 Load: 48.4 t ADT: 150
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.