County profile · official public datasets

Spencer County, IN

244 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.8% rated Good, 50% Fair, 1.2% Poor.

244
Public bridges: 48.8%
Good condition: 1.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Spencer County posts a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 9%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.2%
Poor-condition share: 244
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Spencer County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Spencer County ranks #8 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.2%). Spencer County, Indiana contains 244 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.8% are rated “Good,” 50% “Fair,” and 1.2% “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

244

Public highway bridges in Spencer County

Good condition

48.8%

119 of 244 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50%

122 of 244 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.2%

3 of 244 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#8 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 244 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.8% (119)

Fair

50% (122)

Poor

1.2% (3)

Spencer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,699 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 900 crossings a day against 2,069 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 244 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

24.2% of Spencer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

59 of the 244 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 48.8% 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 94.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 162 over BRANCH CROOKED CREEK, built 1987, carries 2,549 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 2,699 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

4
1900s

4
1910s

4
1920s

7
1930s

9
1940s

5
1950s

6
1960s

9
1970s

25
1980s

65
1990s

49
2000s

37
2010s

18
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 65 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Indiana average (1978).

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Spencer County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.2% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Spencer County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Montgomery County	252	51.2%	46.4%	2.4%	1983
Morgan County	252	50.4%	45.6%	4%	1986
Shelby County	247	32.4%	60.3%	7.3%	1974
Spencer County (this page)	244	48.8%	50%	1.2%	1982
Greene County	239	43.9%	46.9%	9.2%	1982
Monroe County	232	62.1%	35.8%	2.2%	1988

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (244 bridges here).

Norton County, KS · 244 bridges
Osborne County, KS · 244 bridges
Allegan County, MI · 244 bridges
Seward County, NE · 244 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 244 Good 119 Fair 122 Poor 3

All bridges (244)

Sort:

Spencer County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Spencer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,699 vehicle crossings a day

24.2% of Spencer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 94.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Spencer 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 (244)

CR 905N

CR 2100N

CR 700W

CR 150W

CR 1800N

CR 1500N

CR 900N

CR 500N

CR 1800 N

CR 150E

CR 1280N

CR 415W

CR 800W

SR 161

CR 900W

CR 1070N

CR 400N

CR 275E

CR 300E

CR 500W

SR 545

CR 50W

SR 70

SR 245

CR 1100N

CR 325W

CR 685W

CR 600N

CR 800W

CR 1095E

CR 1050 N

SR 161

CR 900N

CR 50S

CR 550W

CR 1500N

CR 700E

CR 1300N

CR 350N

CR 650N

CR 350N

CR 1500 N

SR 66

CR 600N

CR 750W

CR 700N

SR 245

SR 70

CR 200N

CR 500W

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