County profile · official public datasets

Wabash County, IN

192 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28.1% rated Good, 65.6% Fair, 6.3% Poor.

192
Public bridges: 28.1%
Good condition: 6.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

63rd
of 92 on Poor share: 6.3%
Poor-condition share: 192
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Wabash County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wabash County ranks #63 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.3%). Wabash County, Indiana contains 192 public highway bridges. Roughly 28.1% are rated “Good,” 65.6% “Fair,” and 6.3% “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

192

Public highway bridges in Wabash County

Good condition

28.1%

54 of 192 rated 7-9

Fair condition

65.6%

126 of 192 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.3%

12 of 192 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#63 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 192 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

28.1% (54)

Fair

65.6% (126)

Poor

6.3% (12)

Wabash County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,065 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 255 crossings a day against 2,152 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 192 of 192 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

36.5% of Wabash County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

70 of the 192 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 28.1% 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 19.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CR 500 S over BACK CREEK, built 1979, carries 600 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,065 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

4
1910s

2
1920s

3
1930s

6
1940s

5
1950s

11
1960s

26
1970s

39
1980s

51
1990s

26
2000s

7
2010s

11
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 51 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Indiana average (1978).

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Wabash County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.3% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 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 Wabash County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Adams County	194	45.4%	53.6%	1%	1983
Howard County	194	40.2%	55.2%	4.6%	1976
Wabash County (this page)	192	28.1%	65.6%	6.3%	1976
Jay County	191	45%	48.7%	6.3%	1982
Ripley County	191	36.1%	60.7%	3.1%	1972
Jasper County	189	34.9%	64.6%	0.5%	1982

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (192 bridges here).

Barbour County, AL · 192 bridges
El Dorado County, CA · 192 bridges
Santa Cruz County, CA · 192 bridges
Morgan County, CO · 192 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1976 here).

Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges
New Castle County, DE · avg 1976 · 527 bridges

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

All 192 Good 54 Fair 126 Poor 12

All bridges (192)

Sort:

Wabash County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wabash County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,065 vehicle crossings a day

36.5% of Wabash County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 19.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wabash 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 (192)

SR 13

CR 100 E

RIVER RD

CR 300 W

OLD US 24

CR 400 N

CR 250 S

CR 900 N

CR 300 W

CR 500 N

RIVER ST

CR 600 E

VERMONT ST

CR 500 E

PARKVIEW DR

CR 390 E

CR 250 E

SR 115

CR 1300 N

CR 700 N

WALNUT STREET

GLADSTONE ST

CR 400 N

CR 390 E

US 24

SR 124

US 24 WB

SR 15

SR 15

OLD STATE RD 15

SR 13/SR 15

SR 15

AMERICAN RD

OLD STATE RD 15

LUKENS LAKE RD

CR 300 E

COOPER RD

ELLIOTT RD

MILL ST

STITT ST

SR 13

CR 1200 S

SR 114

US 24 EB

CR 800 E

COOPER RD

SR 124

WABASH ST

HARRISON ST

CR 300 E

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