Total bridges
247
Public highway bridges in Shelby County
County profile · official public datasets
Shelby County, IN
247 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 32.4% rated Good, 60.3% Fair, 7.3% Poor.
- 247
- Public bridges
- 32.4%
- Good condition
- 7.3%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Shelby County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 70th
- of 92 on Poor share
- 7.3%
- Poor-condition share
- 247
- public highway bridges
- 1974
- 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.
Shelby County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Shelby County ranks #70 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.3%). Shelby County, Indiana contains 247 public highway bridges. Roughly 32.4% are rated “Good,” 60.3% “Fair,” and 7.3% “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
32.4%
80 of 247 rated 7-9
Fair condition
60.3%
149 of 247 rated 5-6
Poor condition
7.3%
18 of 247 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#70 of 92
Among Indiana counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 247 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 32.4% (80)
Fair 60.3% (149)
Poor 7.3% (18)
Shelby County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,160 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 744 crossings a day against 2,659 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 244 of 247 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
49.8% of Shelby County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
123 of the 247 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 32.4% 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 51.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 52 over BRANDYWINE CREEK, built 1955, carries 5,707 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 11,160 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Shelby County's bridges were built
247 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 1
Built before 1900
1 bridges
- 1900s 2
1900–1909
2 bridges
- 1910s 8
1910–1919
8 bridges
- 1920s 7
1920–1929
7 bridges
- 1930s 9
1930–1939
9 bridges
- 1940s 8
1940–1949
8 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
36 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
32 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
40 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
18 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
33 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
30 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
18 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Indiana average (1978).
How Shelby County compares with Indiana's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Indiana counties nearest Shelby County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.3% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is 10 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 91 Indiana counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clark County | 257 | 52.5% | 45.9% | 1.6% | 1987 |
| Montgomery County | 252 | 51.2% | 46.4% | 2.4% | 1983 |
| Morgan County | 252 | 50.4% | 45.6% | 4% | 1986 |
| Shelby County (this page) | 247 | 32.4% | 60.3% | 7.3% | 1974 |
| Spencer County | 244 | 48.8% | 50% | 1.2% | 1982 |
| Greene County | 239 | 43.9% | 46.9% | 9.2% | 1982 |
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 Shelby 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 Shelby County, both outside Indiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside IN (247 bridges here).
- Houston County, AL · 247 bridges
- Madera County, CA · 247 bridges
- Chickasaw County, MS · 247 bridges
- New York County, NY · 247 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1974 here).
- Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
- Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
- Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
- Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (18)
CR 800 EAST
PoorOver: LITTLE BLUE RIVER
00.15 N OF CR 500 N, Shelby, IN
Built 1895 Load: 0.0 t
CR 275 NORTH
PoorOver: SUGAR CREEK
00.01 W OF CR 825 W, Shelby, IN
Built 1910 Load: 0.0 t
MOUND ROAD
PoorOver: FLATROCK RIVER
01.10 N OF CR 850 S, Shelby, IN
Built 1915 Load: 0.0 t
CR 75 EAST
PoorOver: SOUTH FORK LEWIS CREEK
00.75 N OF CR 800 S, Shelby, IN
Built 1910 Load: 19.5 t ADT: 100
CR 150W
PoorOver: FLATROCK RIVER
00.10 N OF CR 1050 S, Shelby, IN
Built 1900 Load: 19.9 t ADT: 175
PLEASANTVIEW ROAD
PoorOver: I-74
07.52 E I-465, Shelby, IN
Built 1958 Load: 20.7 t ADT: 3,528
CR 500 EAST
PoorOver: FOREMANS BRANCH
00.30 N OF CR 700 N, Shelby, IN
Built 1930 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 300
CR 750 NORTH
PoorOver: BRANDYWINE CREEK
00.50 W OF SR 9, Shelby, IN
Built 1970 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 150
CR 400 NORTH
PoorOver: FOREMANS BRANCH
00.60 W OF CR 300 E, Shelby, IN
Built 1930 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 150
BLUE RIDGE ROAD
PoorOver: NORTH FORK LEWIS CREEK
00.60 MI. W. OF CR 325 E, Shelby, IN
Built 1963 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 175
EDINBURGH ROAD
PoorOver: BRANCH OF BIG BLUE RIVER
00.25 W OF CR 600 W, Shelby, IN
Built 1930 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 150
CR 25 EAST
PoorOver: MIDDLE FORK LEWIS CREEK
00.90 N OF CR 700 S, Shelby, IN
Built 1927 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 100
GREEN MEADOWS RD
PoorOver: DRY FORK CREEK
00.33 S OF MICHIGAN RD, Shelby, IN
Built 1960 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 50
CR 150W
PoorOver: FLATROCK RIVER OVERFLOW
00.20 N OF CR 1050 S, Shelby, IN
Built 1940 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 175
CR 900 NORTH
PoorOver: SNAIL CREEK
00.60 W OF CR 200 W, Shelby, IN
Built 1930 Load: 26.7 t ADT: 100
CR 200N
PoorOver: LITTLE BLUE RIVER
00.20 W OF CR 350 E, Shelby, IN
Built 1930 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 150
US 52
PoorOver: BRANDYWINE CREEK
00.13 E SR 9, Shelby, IN
Built 1955 Load: 29.5 t ADT: 5,707
CR 375E
PoorOver: MIDDLE FORK LEWIS CREEK
00.01 S OF CR 250 S, Shelby, IN
Built 1920 Load: 40.6 t ADT: 150
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.