County profile · official public datasets

St. Joseph County, IN

227 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 49.8% rated Good, 45.4% Fair, 4.8% Poor.

227
Public bridges: 49.8%
Good condition: 4.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

49th
of 92 on Poor share: 4.8%
Poor-condition share: 227
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

St. Joseph County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, St. Joseph County ranks #49 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.8%). St. Joseph County, Indiana contains 227 public highway bridges. Roughly 49.8% are rated “Good,” 45.4% “Fair,” and 4.8% “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

227

Public highway bridges in St. Joseph County

Good condition

49.8%

113 of 227 rated 7-9

Fair condition

45.4%

103 of 227 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.8%

11 of 227 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#49 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 227 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

49.8% (113)

Fair

45.4% (103)

Poor

4.8% (11)

St. Joseph County's Poor-condition bridges carry 38,361 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,487 crossings a day against 9,620 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 227 of 227 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39.6% of St. Joseph County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

90 of the 227 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 49.8% 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 45.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 23/SR 933 NB over SR 933 NB/LINCOLN WAY, built 1962, carries 17,461 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 38,361 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

5
1910s

1
1920s

12
1930s

1
1940s

4
1950s

44
1960s

11
1970s

24
1980s

15
1990s

45
2000s

17
2010s

44
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 45 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Indiana average (1978).

How St. Joseph County compares with Indiana's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Indiana counties nearest St. Joseph County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for St. Joseph County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Monroe County	232	62.1%	35.8%	2.2%	1988
Johnson County	230	41.3%	50.4%	8.3%	1983
LaPorte County	227	33.5%	59.9%	6.6%	1972
Rush County	227	25.6%	70.5%	4%	1970
St. Joseph County (this page)	227	49.8%	45.4%	4.8%	1980
Daviess County	221	59.3%	40.7%	0%	1993

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (227 bridges here).

Yell County, AR · 227 bridges
McHenry County, IL · 227 bridges
Allen County, KS · 227 bridges
Ohio County, KY · 227 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 227 Good 113 Fair 103 Poor 11

All bridges (227)

Sort:

GRAPE ROAD NB

Fair

Over: I-90 EB/WB

00.46 E SR 23, St. Joseph, IN

Built 1978 Load: 61.1 t ADT: 12,568

US 20/31 EB/WB

Fair

Over: FILLMORE ROAD

00.50 W SR 2 E JCT, St. Joseph, IN

Built 1958 Load: 83.9 t ADT: 29,858

I-90

Fair

Over: JUDAY CREEK

00.06 W SR 933, St. Joseph, IN

St. Joseph County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

St. Joseph County's Poor-condition bridges carry 38,361 vehicle crossings a day

39.6% of St. Joseph County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 45.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How St. Joseph 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 (227)

GRAPE ROAD NB

US 20/31 EB/WB

I-90

SR 23

SR 23

US 20/31 EB/WB

US 31 NB

US 31 SB

US 31 NB

US 31 SB

IRELAND ROAD

SPRUCE Rd

CRUMSTOWN HWY

US 20 WB ON-RAMP

BEECH RD

US 20/31 EB/WB

US 31 SB

JOHNSON RD

KINTZ ROAD

SR 23

US 31 NB

SR 331

DRAGOON Trail

EARLY Rd

MISHAWAKA Ave

QUINCE Rd

MAIN STREET

KERN & ELM

STANTON Rd

PATTERSON Rd

DOUGLAS Rd

JEFFERSON Rd

KENILWORTH ROAD

MISHAWAKA AVE

TRINITY PLACE

RICE Rd

US 31 NB

LAKE TRAIL

WASHINGTON ST

DOUGLAS Rd

US 20/31 EB/WB

US 20 WB US 31 NB

US 31 SB

US 20 WB

ELM Rd

US 20/31 EB/WB

US 31 NB NE RAMP

BEECH ROAD

Chicago Trail

SR 933

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