County profile · official public datasets

Sullivan County, IN

217 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.5% rated Good, 65.4% Fair, 5.1% Poor.

217
Public bridges: 29.5%
Good condition: 5.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Sullivan 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.

50th
of 92 on Poor share: 5.1%
Poor-condition share: 217
public highway bridges: 1966
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.

Sullivan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sullivan County ranks #50 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.1%). Sullivan County, Indiana contains 217 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.5% are rated “Good,” 65.4% “Fair,” and 5.1% “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

217

Public highway bridges in Sullivan County

Good condition

29.5%

64 of 217 rated 7-9

Fair condition

65.4%

142 of 217 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.1%

11 of 217 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#50 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 217 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29.5% (64)

Fair

65.4% (142)

Poor

5.1% (11)

Sullivan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,167 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,015 crossings a day against 835 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 217 of 217 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.4% of Sullivan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

118 of the 217 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 29.5% 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 59.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 41 NB over BUSSERON CREEK, built 1972, carries 6,687 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 11,167 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1910s

2
1920s

20
1930s

41
1940s

10
1950s

6
1960s

20
1970s

37
1980s

27
1990s

23
2000s

13
2010s

12
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 41 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 12 years older than the Indiana average of 1978.

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Sullivan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.1% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 13 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sullivan County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Daviess County	221	59.3%	40.7%	0%	1993
Decatur County	220	34.5%	58.6%	6.8%	1971
Dubois County	220	49.5%	47.3%	3.2%	1982
Sullivan County (this page)	217	29.5%	65.4%	5.1%	1966
White County	214	36%	60.3%	3.7%	1978
Clinton County	210	32.4%	62.4%	5.2%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (217 bridges here).

Harrison County, IA · 217 bridges
Marion County, IA · 217 bridges
Ringgold County, IA · 217 bridges
Elko County, NV · 217 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1966 here).

Butler County, KS · avg 1966 · 591 bridges
Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges

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

All 217 Good 64 Fair 142 Poor 11

All bridges (217)

Sort:

Sullivan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sullivan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,167 vehicle crossings a day

54.4% of Sullivan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 59.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sullivan 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 (217)

CR 400 W

CR 1050 N

CR 50 E

CR 750 S

CR 525 W

CR 550 S

S COUNTY LINE RD

CR 625 W

CR 850 E

CR 375 E

CR 200 W

CR 700 E

CR 500 E

CR 450 W

OLD BUFFALO TRAIL

CR 250 E

CR 300 S

CR 300 S

CR 50 N

CR 850 N

CR 650 N

CR 750 N

S COUNTY LINE RD

CR 100 W

CR 75 N

CR 200 N

CR 325 W

SR 58

CR 875 N

SR 58

THUNDERBIRD POND R

CR 900 W

CR 700 E

CR 100 W

CR 25 W

CR 775 W

CR 100 S

CR 500 N

CR 250 E

CARLISLE-PLEASANT

E COUNTY LINE RD

CR 50N

SR 159

SR 159

CR 525 E

CR 400 W

CR 850 S

CR 825 N

SR 58

CR 625 E

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