County profile · official public datasets

Tippecanoe County, IN

330 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.2% rated Good, 39.7% Fair, 5.2% Poor.

330
Public bridges: 55.2%
Good condition: 5.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

51st
of 92 on Poor share: 5.2%
Poor-condition share: 330
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.

Tippecanoe County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Tippecanoe County ranks #51 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.2%). Tippecanoe County, Indiana contains 330 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.2% are rated “Good,” 39.7% “Fair,” and 5.2% “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

330

Public highway bridges in Tippecanoe County

Good condition

55.2%

182 of 330 rated 7-9

Fair condition

39.7%

131 of 330 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.2%

17 of 330 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#51 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 330 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

55.2% (182)

Fair

39.7% (131)

Poor

5.2% (17)

Tippecanoe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 35,375 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,081 crossings a day against 6,816 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 330 of 330 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

43.9% of Tippecanoe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

145 of the 330 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 55.2% 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 31.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 52 over NORFOLK & SOUTHERN RR, built 1935, carries 11,240 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 35,375 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

6
1930s

6
1940s

3
1950s

22
1960s

81
1970s

43
1980s

44
1990s

41
2000s

43
2010s

35
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 81 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Indiana average (1978).

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Tippecanoe County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Tippecanoe County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Gibson County	362	42.8%	53%	4.1%	1978
Hendricks County	355	41.4%	56.3%	2.3%	1982
Wayne County	343	41.1%	54.8%	4.1%	1975
Tippecanoe County (this page)	330	55.2%	39.7%	5.2%	1982
Jackson County	321	43.9%	53.6%	2.5%	1981
Madison County	301	44.5%	52.5%	3%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (330 bridges here).

Pike County, IL · 330 bridges
Garvin County, OK · 330 bridges
Sebastian County, AR · 331 bridges
Pike County, KY · 331 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 330 Good 182 Fair 131 Poor 17

All bridges (330)

Sort:

Tippecanoe County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Tippecanoe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 35,375 vehicle crossings a day

43.9% of Tippecanoe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 31.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Tippecanoe 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 (330)

CR 350W/Kerfoot Dr

CR 700W

I-65 NB

SR 26

Pretty Prairie Rd

I-65 NB

I-65 SBL

CR 950S

SR 38

US 52

SR 26

I-65 NB

I-65 SB

CR 700W

US 52

SR 38 EBL

SR 38 WBL

CR 700W

SR 28

US 52

SALEM STREET

SR 25

I-65 NB

UNION STREET

SR 26

SR 25 NB

SR 43

SR 28

3RD STREET RAMP

SR 25

CR 800S

Brady Ln

US 231

CR 700N

CR 700W

CR 500E

CEDAR LANE

I-65 NBL

I-65 SBL

US 52 WBL

CR 500N

CR 600N

CR 950W

CR 475E

CR 1075E

LINDBERG RD

I-65 NB

CR 300S

CR 660S

CR 500N

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