Total bridges
62
Public highway bridges in Switzerland County
County profile · official public datasets
Switzerland County, IN
62 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.9% rated Good, 50% Fair, 8.1% Poor.
- 62
- Public bridges
- 41.9%
- Good condition
- 8.1%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Switzerland County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.
- 75th
- of 92 on Poor share
- 8.1%
- Poor-condition share
- 62
- 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.
Switzerland County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Switzerland County ranks #75 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.1%). Switzerland County, Indiana contains 62 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.9% are rated “Good,” 50% “Fair,” and 8.1% “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.
Good condition
41.9%
26 of 62 rated 7-9
Fair condition
50%
31 of 62 rated 5-6
Poor condition
8.1%
5 of 62 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#75 of 92
Among Indiana counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 62 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 41.9% (26)
Fair 50% (31)
Poor 8.1% (5)
Switzerland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,365 vehicle crossings a day
That is 2.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 273 crossings a day against 697 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 62 of 62 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
37.1% of Switzerland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
23 of the 62 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 41.9% 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 45.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
SR 250 over INDIAN CREEK, built 1968, carries 615 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 1,365 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Switzerland County's bridges were built
62 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 2
1920–1929
2 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
6 bridges
- 1940s 4
1940–1949
4 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
7 bridges
- 1960s 1
1960–1969
1 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
6 bridges
- 1980s 3
1980–1989
3 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
8 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
9 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
11 bridges
- 2020s 4
2020–2029
4 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 11 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Indiana average (1978).
How Switzerland County compares with Indiana's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Indiana counties nearest Switzerland County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.1% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 91 Indiana counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starke County | 86 | 53.5% | 40.7% | 5.8% | 1987 |
| Fulton County | 85 | 36.5% | 58.8% | 4.7% | 1977 |
| Blackford County | 73 | 31.5% | 63% | 5.5% | 1983 |
| Switzerland County (this page) | 62 | 41.9% | 50% | 8.1% | 1982 |
| Union County | 58 | 27.6% | 67.2% | 5.2% | 1973 |
| Ohio County | 41 | 46.3% | 51.2% | 2.4% | 1987 |
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 Switzerland 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 Switzerland County, both outside Indiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside IN (62 bridges here).
- Conejos County, CO · 62 bridges
- Pitkin County, CO · 62 bridges
- Gulf County, FL · 62 bridges
- Pickens County, GA · 62 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.
Poor-condition bridges (5)
LOWER DUGAN ROAD
PoorOver: PLUM CREEK
00.01 E of PLUM CREEK RD, Switzerland, IN
Built 1940 Load: 7.3 t ADT: 100
PLUM CREEK RD
PoorOver: BROAD RUN
00.01 S of MARY LAMB RD, Switzerland, IN
Built 1999 Load: 15.6 t ADT: 200
FAIRVIEW RD
PoorOver: UPPER INDIAN CREEK
00.01 S of CULBERTSON RD, Switzerland, IN
Built 1979 Load: 30.0 t ADT: 325
SR 250
PoorOver: INDIAN CREEK
02.94 E SR 129, Switzerland, IN
Built 1968 Load: 30.1 t ADT: 615
ALLENSVILLE RD
PoorOver: SOUTH FORK ELK CREEK
00.20 N of US 250, Switzerland, IN
Built 1920 Load: 47.5 t ADT: 125
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.