County profile · official public datasets

Vigo County, IN

296 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.9% rated Good, 50.7% Fair, 4.4% Poor.

296
Public bridges: 44.9%
Good condition: 4.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 46%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.4%
Poor-condition share: 296
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Vigo County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Vigo County ranks #42 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.4%). Vigo County, Indiana contains 296 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.9% are rated “Good,” 50.7% “Fair,” and 4.4% “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

296

Public highway bridges in Vigo County

Good condition

44.9%

133 of 296 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.7%

150 of 296 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.4%

13 of 296 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#42 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 296 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.9% (133)

Fair

50.7% (150)

Poor

4.4% (13)

Vigo County's Poor-condition bridges carry 30,398 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,338 crossings a day against 6,473 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 296 of 296 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41.9% of Vigo County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

124 of the 296 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 44.9% 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 40.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 40 over ABANDONED RR, built 1921, carries 12,258 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 30,398 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

13
1920s

11
1930s

10
1940s

7
1950s

6
1960s

61
1970s

40
1980s

53
1990s

31
2000s

36
2010s

28

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 61 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Indiana average (1978).

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Vigo County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.4% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Vigo County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Madison County	301	44.5%	52.5%	3%	1978
Vigo County (this page)	296	44.9%	50.7%	4.4%	1977
Boone County	293	39.9%	55.3%	4.8%	1974
Knox County	290	40%	55.2%	4.8%	1976
Putnam County	290	30.3%	51%	18.6%	1963
Grant County	280	38.6%	59.6%	1.8%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (296 bridges here).

Marion County, IL · 296 bridges
Story County, IA · 296 bridges
Guadalupe County, TX · 296 bridges
Clark County, WI · 296 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1977 here).

San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
Shelby County, TN · avg 1977 · 1,077 bridges

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

All 296 Good 133 Fair 150 Poor 13

Fair-condition bridges (150)

Sort:

Vigo County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Vigo County's Poor-condition bridges carry 30,398 vehicle crossings a day

41.9% of Vigo County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 40.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Vigo 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

Fair-condition bridges (150)

State Line Road

YEAGER DRIVE

US 40 WB

FRENCH Dr

POTTSVILLE ROAD

US 40

SR 63 SB

US 40

CLINTON ST

SR 63

BOWEN DRIVE

25th St

SR 63 NB

I-70 WB

RIPLEY ROAD

BRIGGS STREET

YEAGER DRIVE

RIO GRANDE Ave

HASSELBURGER Ave

LAFAYETTE AVENUE

BALDWIN STREET

SR 246

TABERTOWN St

MARGARET Ave

CREAL STREET

DARWIN ROAD

TRUEBLOOD Pl

PAYNE PLACE

OREGON CHURCH Rd

SULLIVAN PLACE

SR 63 SB

FRENCH Dr

SUTLIFF DRIVE

WOODSMALL DRIVE

TWIN BEACH St

MCDANIEL ROAD

Old PARIS Rd

Sidenbender Rd

NEW GOSHEN AVE

EPPERT St

E MAPLE ROAD

CREWS PLACE

EPPERT St

US 41 SB

BATTLEROW PLACE

COOPERS LN

MAIN STREET

TWIN BEACH St

GRANT AVENUE

MCNUTT DRIVE

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