County profile · official public datasets

Wayne County, IN

343 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.1% rated Good, 54.8% Fair, 4.1% Poor.

343
Public bridges: 41.1%
Good condition: 4.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 41%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.1%
Poor-condition share: 343
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Wayne County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wayne County ranks #38 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.1%). Wayne County, Indiana contains 343 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.1% are rated “Good,” 54.8% “Fair,” and 4.1% “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.

Total bridges

343

Public highway bridges in Wayne County

Good condition

41.1%

141 of 343 rated 7-9

Fair condition

54.8%

188 of 343 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.1%

14 of 343 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#38 of 92

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

Condition distribution

Share of 343 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

41.1% (141)

Fair

54.8% (188)

Poor

4.1% (14)

Wayne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 89,064 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,362 crossings a day against 3,201 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 343 of 343 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

56% of Wayne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

192 of the 343 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 41.1% 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 22.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-70 WB over WHITEWATER RIVER, built 1965, carries 19,818 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 14-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 89,064 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

5
1920s

4
1930s

9
1940s

8
1950s

68
1960s

78
1970s

41
1980s

27
1990s

36
2000s

39
2010s

16
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 78 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Indiana average (1978).

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

The 5 Indiana counties nearest Wayne County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.1% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 5 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wayne 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 (this page)	343	41.1%	54.8%	4.1%	1975
Tippecanoe County	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 Wayne 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 Wayne County, both outside Indiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IN (343 bridges here).

Norfolk County, MA · 343 bridges
Mower County, MN · 343 bridges
Albany County, NY · 343 bridges
Shelby County, AL · 344 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 343 Good 141 Fair 188 Poor 14

Good-condition bridges (141)

Sort:

Wayne County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wayne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 89,064 vehicle crossings a day

56% of Wayne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 22.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wayne 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

Good-condition bridges (141)

I-70 EB

I-70 WB

WHITEWATER RD

ROBINSON RD

MEANS RD

ESTEB RD

US 40

GOOSE HEAVEN RD

LAMAR RD

MASSEY RD

US 40

BEAR CREEK RD

SYMONDS CREEK RD

POTTERSHOP RD

West EATON PK

CENTERVILLE RD

I-70 EB

US 40

SR 227

SR 1

SR 227

FOUNTAIN CITY PK

KEMPTON RD

WEAVER RD

GAAR JACKSON ROAD

SALISBURY ROAD

TED DAVIS RD

FRANKLIN RD

I-70 EB

I-70 WB

US 27

MAIN ST

NW 5TH ST

N 20TH ST

MARTIN RD

SR 38

SR 1

SR 38

CHARLES RD

STATE LINE ROAD

SR 121

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