County profile · official public datasets

Owen County, IN

150 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.7% rated Good, 51.3% Fair, 10% Poor.

150
Public bridges: 38.7%
Good condition: 10%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

83rd
of 92 on Poor share: 10%
Poor-condition share: 150
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Owen County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Owen County ranks #83 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10%). Owen County, Indiana contains 150 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.7% are rated “Good,” 51.3% “Fair,” and 10% “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

150

Public highway bridges in Owen County

Good condition

38.7%

58 of 150 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.3%

77 of 150 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10%

15 of 150 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#83 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 150 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.7% (58)

Fair

51.3% (77)

Poor

10% (15)

Owen County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,558 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 237 crossings a day against 907 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 150 of 150 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

40% of Owen County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

60 of the 150 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 38.7% 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 33.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 246 over BR W FORK FISH CREEK, built 1986, carries 1,188 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 3,558 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1910s

3
1920s

4
1930s

20
1940s

8
1950s

6
1960s

9
1970s

19
1980s

21
1990s

8
2000s

18
2010s

23
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Indiana average (1978).

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Owen County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Owen County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jefferson County	153	41.8%	54.2%	3.9%	1977
Kosciusko County	152	38.2%	55.3%	6.6%	1975
Benton County	151	45.7%	52.3%	2%	1986
Perry County	151	41.1%	57%	2%	1978
Owen County (this page)	150	38.7%	51.3%	10%	1978
DeKalb County	149	40.9%	59.1%	0%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (150 bridges here).

Lamar County, MS · 150 bridges
Stokes County, NC · 150 bridges
Jefferson County, OK · 150 bridges
Coleman County, TX · 150 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges
Buncombe County, NC · avg 1978 · 555 bridges

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

All 150 Good 58 Fair 77 Poor 15

All bridges (150)

Sort:

Owen County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Owen County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,558 vehicle crossings a day

40% of Owen County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 33.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Owen 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 (150)

US 231

SHEESE RD

SHEPARD PATRICK RD

SR 46

SR 246

WILLIAMS RD

MILL GROVE RD

COUNTY LINE RD

LITTLE FLOCK RD

SR 43

CUBA RD

COAL CITY-ARNEY RD

MOUNT CALVERY RD

PLESANT HILL RD

ROCKY HILL RD

SR 157

DUNN RD

SR 157

POTTERSVILLE RD

OWL HOLLER RD

GLORYVILLE RD

SYCAMORE ROAD

GOOSE CREEK RD

THOMPSON RD

US 231

US 231

US 231

COUNTRY CLUB RD

COAL CITY-ARNEY RD

MILLS CREEK RD

EGENOLF RD

SR 246

COMBES RD

HUBBLE STATION RD

SR 46

FIDLERS RD

CO LINE RD

STUBENVILLE RD

HAUSER RD

SR 246

QUINCY RD

FLATWOODS RD

FREEDOM RD

COUNTY LINE RD

DUNN RD

COUNTY LINE RD

N CATARACT RD

PATRICKSBURG RD

LINGLE RD

DENMARK RD

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