County profile · official public datasets

Lawrence County, IN

165 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 32.1% rated Good, 58.2% Fair, 9.7% Poor.

165
Public bridges
32.1%
Good condition
9.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

81st
of 92 on Poor share
9.7%
Poor-condition share
165
public highway bridges
1981
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.

Lawrence County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lawrence County ranks #81 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.7%). Lawrence County, Indiana contains 165 public highway bridges. Roughly 32.1% are rated “Good,” 58.2% “Fair,” and 9.7% “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

165

Public highway bridges in Lawrence County

Good condition

32.1%

53 of 165 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.2%

96 of 165 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.7%

16 of 165 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#81 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 165 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
32.1% (53)
Fair
58.2% (96)
Poor
9.7% (16)

Lawrence County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,818 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 239 crossings a day against 1,867 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 165 of 165 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

35.2% of Lawrence County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

58 of the 165 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 32.1% 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 17.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 158 over SILVERVILLE CREEK, built 1938, carries 669 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,818 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Lawrence County's bridges were built

165 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 28 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Indiana average (1978).

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

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Lawrence County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lawrence County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Newton County 172 1.7%
Miami County 171 7.6%
Lawrence County (this page) 165 9.7%
Jennings County 163 9.8%
Carroll County 161 2.5%
Franklin County 159 7.5%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (165 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1981 here).

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

Poor-condition bridges (16)

LOCUST ROAD

Poor

Over: S FORK LEATHERWOOD CR

00.46 S OF CR 300 N, Lawrence, IN

Built 1992 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 92

WASH COUNTY BR RD

Poor

Over: EAST FORK OF WHITE RIVER

00.83 S OF CR L9E6S, Lawrence, IN

Built 1895 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 143

CEMENT PLANT ROAD

Poor

Over: LEATHERWOOD CREEK

00.33 E OF C STREET, Lawrence, IN

Built 1909 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 240

SADDLE BARN ROAD

Poor

Over: LEATHERWOOD CREEK

00.07 W OF TUNNELTON RD, Lawrence, IN

Built 1905 Load: 5.2 t ADT: 365

MILL CREEK ROAD

Poor

Over: CSX RAILROAD

01.58 E OF BALL ROAD, Lawrence, IN

Built 1935 Load: 14.6 t ADT: 393

RED CRANE ROAD

Poor

Over: BRANCH GUTHRIE CREEK

02.02 N OF TUNNELTON RD, Lawrence, IN

Built 2004 Load: 17.1 t ADT: 255

JEFFERSON STREET

Poor

Over: LEATHERWOOD CREEK

00.01 N OF GROUNDHOG RD, Lawrence, IN

Built 1935 Load: 17.1 t ADT: 138

ARMSTRONG STATION

Poor

Over: SPRING CREEK

00.09 S OF SR 58, Lawrence, IN

Built 1915 Load: 18.4 t ADT: 149

NORTH PIKE ROAD

Poor

Over: GULLETTS CREEK

00.31 S OF JUDAH ROAD, Lawrence, IN

Built 1975 Load: 21.0 t ADT: 160

TUNNELTON DENNISON

Poor

Over: GUTHRIE CREEK

0.36 N OF DEVILS BACKBONE, Lawrence, IN

Built 1970 Load: 21.6 t ADT: 183

BARTLETTSVILLE RD

Poor

Over: LITTLE SALT CREEK

00.36 N OF RAMSEY RIDGE, Lawrence, IN

Built 1965 Load: 22.3 t ADT: 305

HURON WILLIAMS RD

Poor

Over: CHAPMAN CREEK

02.11 S OF SR 450, Lawrence, IN

Built 1987 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 122

MCINTYRE BOTTOM RD

Poor

Over: BACK CREEK

01.02 E OF CR 800 E, Lawrence, IN

Built 1990 Load: 25.3 t ADT: 71

ELKINS ROAD

Poor

Over: KNOB CREEK

00.23 W OF BARTLETTSVILLE, Lawrence, IN

Built 1984 Load: 28.0 t ADT: 255

SR 158

Poor

Over: SILVERVILLE CREEK

07.71 W SR 458, Lawrence, IN

Built 1938 Load: 33.0 t ADT: 669

VINEGAR HILL ROAD

Poor

Over: DE WITT CREEK

00.29 W OF CR 400 E, Lawrence, IN

Built 1984 Load: 34.0 t ADT: 278
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.