County profile · official public datasets

Pulaski County, IN

102 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.3% rated Good, 62.7% Fair, 2.9% Poor.

102
Public bridges: 34.3%
Good condition: 2.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 28%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.9%
Poor-condition share: 102
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Pulaski County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pulaski County ranks #26 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.9%). Pulaski County, Indiana contains 102 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.3% are rated “Good,” 62.7% “Fair,” and 2.9% “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

102

Public highway bridges in Pulaski County

Good condition

34.3%

35 of 102 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.7%

64 of 102 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.9%

3 of 102 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#26 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 102 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.3% (35)

Fair

62.7% (64)

Poor

2.9% (3)

Pulaski County's Poor-condition bridges carry 420 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 140 crossings a day against 1,156 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 102 of 102 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.9% of Pulaski County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

56 of the 102 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 34.3% 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 45.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CR 250S over MILL CREEK, built 1950, carries 190 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 420 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

4
1940s

4
1950s

10
1960s

23
1970s

19
1980s

13
1990s

14
2000s

8
2010s

4
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 23 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 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Indiana average (1978).

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Pulaski County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.9% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Pulaski County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Brown County	114	20.2%	63.2%	16.7%	1964
Tipton County	113	42.5%	55.8%	1.8%	1983
Martin County	104	40.4%	51.9%	7.7%	1977
Pulaski County (this page)	102	34.3%	62.7%	2.9%	1976
Fayette County	100	33%	57%	10%	1981
LaGrange County	100	45%	54%	1%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (102 bridges here).

La Plata County, CO · 102 bridges
Clarke County, GA · 102 bridges
Clark County, KS · 102 bridges
Sibley County, MN · 102 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1976 here).

Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges
New Castle County, DE · avg 1976 · 527 bridges

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

All 102 Good 35 Fair 64 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (35)

Sort:

Pulaski County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pulaski County's Poor-condition bridges carry 420 vehicle crossings a day

54.9% of Pulaski County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 45.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pulaski 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

Good-condition bridges (35)

SR 14

CR 400E

CR 1000S

US 421

SR 14

CR 1450W

US 421

CR 225W

US 35

CR 625E

SR 14

CR 625E

SR 39

SR 39

CR 500S

US 35

CR 200S

CR 600W

SR 119

US 35

SR 119

CR 1000W

CR 700E

CR 700N

CR 400E

CR 150S

WASHINGTON ST

CR 500W

CR 400S

CAMP ROAD #2

CR 1550W

CR 800S

PARK ROAD/CR 1600

CR 100S

CR 100W

Related