Total bridges
174
Public highway bridges in Washington County
County profile · official public datasets
174 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.8% rated Good, 52.9% Fair, 2.3% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Washington County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
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.
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Washington County ranks #19 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.3%). Washington County, Indiana contains 174 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.8% are rated “Good,” 52.9% “Fair,” and 2.3% “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
174
Public highway bridges in Washington County
Good condition
44.8%
78 of 174 rated 7-9
Fair condition
52.9%
92 of 174 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2.3%
4 of 174 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#19 of 92
Among Indiana counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 174 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,073 crossings a day against 1,346 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 174 of 174 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
75 of the 174 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 44.8% 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.
SR 60 over SOUTH FORK BLUE RIVER, built 1937, carries 7,408 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 8,290 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
174 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
Built before 1900
1 bridges
1910–1919
12 bridges
1920–1929
6 bridges
1930–1939
8 bridges
1940–1949
7 bridges
1950–1959
6 bridges
1960–1969
20 bridges
1970–1979
23 bridges
1980–1989
20 bridges
1990–1999
30 bridges
2000–2009
16 bridges
2010–2019
17 bridges
2020–2029
8 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 30 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Indiana average (1978).
The 5 Indiana counties nearest Washington County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.3% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 91 Indiana counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marshall County | 183 | 55.2% | 41.5% | 3.3% | 1984 |
| Washington County (this page) | 174 | 44.8% | 52.9% | 2.3% | 1976 |
| Newton County | 172 | 41.9% | 56.4% | 1.7% | 1981 |
| Pike County | 172 | 50.6% | 39% | 10.5% | 1978 |
| Miami County | 171 | 34.5% | 57.9% | 7.6% | 1966 |
| Lawrence County | 165 | 32.1% | 58.2% | 9.7% | 1981 |
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 Washington County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Washington County, both outside Indiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside IN (174 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1976 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: MIDDLE FK BLUE RIVER
00.90 NW of TEMPLE Rd, Washington, IN
Over: BLUE River
00.80 NE of ORGAN SPRINGS, Washington, IN
Over: TWIN Creek
00.70 NE of WHITE RIVER R, Washington, IN
Over: South Fork BLUE River
00.80 N of WEST END Rd, Washington, IN
Over: BR W FORK BLUE RIVER
00.70 N of CANTON S BOSTO, Washington, IN
Over: HIGHLAND CREEK
00.80 N of SR 56/60, Washington, IN
Over: DUNCAN BR DELANEY CREEK
00.10 S of DELANEY MILPOR, Washington, IN
Over: BR MIDDLE FORK BLUE RIVE
00.90 N of SR 160, Washington, IN
Over: BR MIDDLE FORK BLUE RIVE
00.10 N of COUNTY FARM Rd, Washington, IN
Over: RUSH Creek
00.50 SE of STARR Rd, Washington, IN
Over: BUFFALO Creek
01.20 NW of WALNUT RIDGE, Washington, IN
Over: South Fork LOST River
00.10 S of MT TABOR Rd, Washington, IN
Over: CLIFTY Creek
00.50 W of WHITE RIVER Rd, Washington, IN
Over: MIDDLE FORK BLUE RIVER
00.10 N of GARRISON HOLLO, Washington, IN
Over: TRIBUTARY HIGHLAND CREEK
00.50 S of PUMP STATION R, Washington, IN
Over: MILL CREEK
00.10 W of HITCHCOCK Rd, Washington, IN
Over: S FK BLUE RIVER
00.40 NW of BLANKEN BAKER, Washington, IN
Over: DUTCH Creek
00.90 W of BUSH Rd, Washington, IN
Over: Branch of ELK Creek
00.50 S of LITTLE YORK Rd, Washington, IN
Over: MIDDLE FORK BLUE RIVER
03.79 S SR 60, Washington, IN
Over: POPLAR BR S FK BLUE R
00.10 E of BLUE RIVER Rd, Washington, IN
Over: Branch of ELK Creek
00.67 W/RUTHERFORD HOLLOW, Washington, IN
Over: ELK Creek
0.90 W of SR 39, Washington, IN
Over: W FORK BLUE RIVER
00.60 E of ORCHARD Rd, Washington, IN
Over: HONEY Creek
00.50 W of SR 66, Washington, IN
Over: DELANEY CREEK
00.50 W of DELANEY PARK R, Washington, IN
Over: BR S FORK BLUE RIVER
00.10 S of MAHURON Rd, Washington, IN
Over: LICKING Creek
00.50 S of PALMYRA LAKE R, Washington, IN
Over: LICKING Creek
01.00 E of BIG SPRINGS Rd, Washington, IN
Over: S FK LOST RIVER
00.10 S of MT TABOR Rd, Washington, IN
Over: S FK BLUE RIVER
00.50 E BECKS MILL RD, Washington, IN
Over: MILL CREEK
02.89 W SR 60, Washington, IN
Over: TWIN Creek
00.10 W of STARR Rd, Washington, IN
Over: MIDDLE FORK BLUE RIVER
01.30 E of FRANKLIN SCHOO, Washington, IN
Over: HIGHLAND CREEK
00.60 N of SR 56/60, Washington, IN
Over: DELANEY CREEK
00.10 N of MT EDEN Rd, Washington, IN
Over: S FORK BLUE RIVER
01.70 W SR 335, Washington, IN
Over: ELK CREEK OVERFLOW
00.34 N SR 256, Washington, IN
Over: S FORK BLUE RIVER
00.60 SE of BLUE RIVER Rd, Washington, IN
Over: UNT HAGGATT BRANCH
00.25 S SR 60, Washington, IN
Over: MILL CREEK
00.20 N of VINCENNES Trai, Washington, IN
Over: HONEY RUN CREEK
00.05 N of Fitzpatrick Ln, Washington, IN
Over: MIDDLE FORK BLUE RIVER
00.10 N SR 160, Washington, IN
Over: CAMMIE THOMAS Ditch
00.30 N of MT EDEN Rd, Washington, IN
Over: South Fork BLUE River
00.80 S of SHORTS CORNER, Washington, IN
Over: Branch of DUTCH Creek
00.50 W of BUSH Rd, Washington, IN
Over: DUNCAN BR DELANEY CREEK
00.60 S of DELANEY MILPOR, Washington, IN
Over: UNT HAGGATT BRANCH
00.16 W SR 60, Washington, IN
Over: BUFFALO Creek
00.20 SE of SPARKS FERRY, Washington, IN
Over: BROCK CREEK
00.50 S of LEWELLEN Rd, Washington, IN
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
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.