County profile · official public datasets

Putnam County, IN

290 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 30.3% rated Good, 51% Fair, 18.6% Poor.

290
Public bridges: 30.3%
Good condition: 18.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Putnam 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.

92nd
of 92 on Poor share: 18.6%
Poor-condition share: 290
public highway bridges: 1963
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.

Putnam County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Putnam County ranks #92 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 18.6%). Putnam County, Indiana contains 290 public highway bridges. Roughly 30.3% are rated “Good,” 51% “Fair,” and 18.6% “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

290

Public highway bridges in Putnam County

Good condition

30.3%

88 of 290 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51%

148 of 290 rated 5-6

Poor condition

18.6%

54 of 290 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#92 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 290 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

30.3% (88)

Fair

51% (148)

Poor

18.6% (54)

Putnam County's Poor-condition bridges carry 27,911 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 17.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 547 crossings a day against 2,757 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 286 of 290 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

60.3% of Putnam County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

175 of the 290 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 30.3% 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 19.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 40 over SERVICE RD - STATE FARM, built 1985, carries 5,489 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 54-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 27,911 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

5
1900s

8
1910s

10
1920s

40
1930s

29
1940s

15
1950s

9
1960s

48
1970s

16
1980s

22
1990s

32
2000s

33
2010s

23

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 48 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1963, 15 years older than the Indiana average of 1978.

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Putnam County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 18.6% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1963 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 13 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Putnam County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Madison County	301	44.5%	52.5%	3%	1978
Vigo County	296	44.9%	50.7%	4.4%	1977
Boone County	293	39.9%	55.3%	4.8%	1974
Knox County	290	40%	55.2%	4.8%	1976
Putnam County (this page)	290	30.3%	51%	18.6%	1963
Grant County	280	38.6%	59.6%	1.8%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (290 bridges here).

Monroe County, MS · 290 bridges
Yellowstone County, MT · 290 bridges
Outagamie County, WI · 290 bridges
Scott County, IA · 291 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1963 here).

Worcester County, MA · avg 1963 · 1,014 bridges
Honolulu County, HI · avg 1963 · 682 bridges
Chester County, PA · avg 1963 · 680 bridges
Essex County, NJ · avg 1963 · 505 bridges

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

All 290 Good 88 Fair 148 Poor 54

All bridges (290)

Sort:

Putnam County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Putnam County's Poor-condition bridges carry 27,911 vehicle crossings a day

60.3% of Putnam County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 19.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Putnam 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 (290)

CR 900N

CR 800N

CR 450N

CR 650N

CR 200N

CR 750W

CR 750E

CR 875E

CR 375E

CR 650N

CR 50N

CR 250W

CR 900E

CR 175E

CR 500N

MORTON RD

CR 750E

CR 1050S

CR 1100N

CR 650N

CR 650N

DEVIL BACKBONE RD

CR 650S

CR 600S

CR 1200S

CR 775W

CR 25W

CR 1275S

CR 350N

CR 875W

CR 1075S

CR 500E

POPLAR GROVE ROAD

CR 600W

CR 100N

US 40

CR 100E

I-70 EB

I-70 WB

SR 243

SR 243

SR 243

CR 1000 E

CR 1350N

CR 675E

CR 50N

CR 1000E

CR 50E

CR 600W

CR 775E

Related