Total bridges
290
Public highway bridges in Putnam County
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.
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.
When Putnam County's bridges were built
290 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 5
Built before 1900
5 bridges
- 1900s 8
1900–1909
8 bridges
- 1910s 10
1910–1919
10 bridges
- 1920s
1920–1929
40 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
29 bridges
- 1940s 15
1940–1949
15 bridges
- 1950s 9
1950–1959
9 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
48 bridges
- 1970s 16
1970–1979
16 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
22 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
32 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
33 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
23 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (54)
CR 775E
PoorOver: MILLER CREEK
00.20 S of CR 350 N, Putnam, IN
Built 1920 Load: 35.1 t ADT: 480
CR 800S
PoorOver: VERMILLION BRANCH CREEK
00.20 W of CR 750 E, Putnam, IN
Built 1920 Load: 40.6 t ADT: 130
CR 850N
PoorOver: SOUTH RAMP CREEK
00.60 W of CR 25 W, Putnam, IN
Built 1960 Load: 42.7 t ADT: 130
CR 1000S
PoorOver: HIGGINS BRANCH CREEK
00.50 W of CR 700 E, Putnam, IN
Built 1960 Load: 43.3 t ADT: 1,250
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.