Total bridges
158
Public highway bridges in Wells County
County profile · official public datasets
Wells County, IN
158 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.2% rated Good, 55.1% Fair, 5.7% Poor.
- 158
- Public bridges
- 39.2%
- Good condition
- 5.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Wells County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 57th
- of 92 on Poor share
- 5.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 158
- public highway bridges
- 1978
- 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.
Wells County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wells County ranks #57 of 92 Indiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.7%). Wells County, Indiana contains 158 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.2% are rated “Good,” 55.1% “Fair,” and 5.7% “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.
Good condition
39.2%
62 of 158 rated 7-9
Fair condition
55.1%
87 of 158 rated 5-6
Poor condition
5.7%
9 of 158 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#57 of 92
Among Indiana counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 158 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 39.2% (62)
Fair 55.1% (87)
Poor 5.7% (9)
Wells County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,664 vehicle crossings a day
That is 5.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry the same share of traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 852 crossings a day against 726 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 158 of 158 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
34.8% of Wells County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
55 of the 158 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 39.2% 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 39.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
SR 3 over SALAMONIE RIVER, built 1933, carries 3,021 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 7,664 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Wells County's bridges were built
158 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 7
1920–1929
7 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
16 bridges
- 1940s 4
1940–1949
4 bridges
- 1950s 1
1950–1959
1 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
20 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
21 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
31 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
21 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
15 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
15 bridges
- 2020s 6
2020–2029
6 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Indiana average (1978).
How Wells County compares with Indiana's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Indiana counties nearest Wells County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 91 Indiana counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jennings County | 163 | 39.9% | 50.3% | 9.8% | 1973 |
| Carroll County | 161 | 37.3% | 60.2% | 2.5% | 1973 |
| Franklin County | 159 | 34% | 58.5% | 7.5% | 1972 |
| Wells County (this page) | 158 | 39.2% | 55.1% | 5.7% | 1978 |
| Jefferson County | 153 | 41.8% | 54.2% | 3.9% | 1977 |
| Kosciusko County | 152 | 38.2% | 55.3% | 6.6% | 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 Wells 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 Wells County, both outside Indiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside IN (158 bridges here).
- Napa County, CA · 158 bridges
- Jackson County, MI · 158 bridges
- Yalobusha County, MS · 158 bridges
- Fergus County, MT · 158 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside IN (1978 here).
- Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
- Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
- Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges
- Buncombe County, NC · avg 1978 · 555 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (158)
CR 1100 SOUTH
FairOver: SALAMONIE RIVER
01.00 W OF CR 400 W, Wells, IN
Built 1910 Load: 10.5 t ADT: 350
CR 500 WEST
FairOver: EIGHT MILE CREEK
00.15 S OF CR 1200 N, Wells, IN
Built 1920 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 100
CR 550 WEST
FairOver: MOSSBURG DITCH
00.30 S OF CR 100 S, Wells, IN
Built 1940 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 100
CR 200 EAST
FairOver: ROCK CREEK
00.50 N OF CR 700 S, Wells, IN
Built 1965 Load: 20.2 t ADT: 344
CR 300W
FairOver: ROCK CREEK
00.10 N OF CR 200 S, Wells, IN
Built 1986 Load: 21.7 t ADT: 1,022
SR 124
FairOver: ROCK CREEK OVERFLOW
03.27 E SR 3, Wells, IN
Built 1933 Load: 22.3 t ADT: 2,281
CR 100E
FairOver: EIGHT MILE CREEK
00.01 S OF CR 1000 N, Wells, IN
Built 1965 Load: 22.4 t ADT: 750
CR 100 EAST
FairOver: DOWTY DITCH
00.50 N OF CR 400 N, Wells, IN
Built 1995 Load: 23.1 t ADT: 1,022
SR 124
FairOver: WABASH RIVER
00.34 W SR 116, Wells, IN
Built 1997 Load: 23.3 t ADT: 2,390
CR 200 NORTH
FairOver: ROCK CREEK
00.50 W OF CR 400 W, Wells, IN
Built 1990 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 100
CR 1000 NORTH
FairOver: FLAT CREEK
00.60 W OF CR 400 W, Wells, IN
Built 1965 Load: 24.8 t ADT: 125
CR 100 WEST
FairOver: EIGHT MILE CREEK
00.80 N OF CR 1000 N, Wells, IN
Built 1930 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 382
CR 300W
FairOver: WABASH RIVER
00.10 N OF CR 400 N, Wells, IN
Built 1940 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 1,486
CR 300W
FairOver: EIGHT MILE CREEK
00.70 N OF CR 1100 N, Wells, IN
Built 1960 Load: 26.0 t ADT: 1,626
MERIDIAN ROAD
FairOver: SCUFFLE CREEK
00.20 N OF CR 1000 S, Wells, IN
Built 2007 Load: 26.4 t ADT: 290
CR 200 WEST
FairOver: SCUFFLE CREEK
00.10 N OF CR 1000 S, Wells, IN
Built 1930 Load: 26.8 t ADT: 350
US 224
FairOver: EIGHT MILE CREEK
00.51 E SR 301, Wells, IN
Built 1939 Load: 26.9 t ADT: 2,528
CR 800 SOUTH
FairOver: OWL CREEK
00.10 W OF CR 1000 W, Wells, IN
Built 1998 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 250
CR 200 WEST
FairOver: FLAT CREEK
00.40 N OF CR 700 N, Wells, IN
Built 1988 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 125
CR 100 WEST
FairOver: BIG CREEK
00.80 N OF CR 800 N, Wells, IN
Built 1997 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 399
SR 218
FairOver: ELM CREEK
04.15 W SR 1, Wells, IN
Built 1986 Load: 27.9 t ADT: 1,669
MERIDIAN RD
FairOver: ROCK CREEK
00.50 N OF SR 218, Wells, IN
Built 1966 Load: 28.0 t ADT: 539
SR 116
FairOver: MARKLEY DITCH
00.97 E SR 1, Wells, IN
Built 1995 Load: 28.5 t ADT: 2,287
CR 400 WEST
FairOver: FLAT CREEK
00.90 N OF CR 700 N, Wells, IN
Built 1994 Load: 28.6 t ADT: 100
SR 124
FairOver: JOHNS DITCH
00.78 E SR 1, Wells, IN
Built 1934 Load: 28.8 t ADT: 3,540
CR 500 EAST
FairOver: SIX MILE CREEK
00.10 S OF CR 750 S, Wells, IN
Built 1930 Load: 29.1 t ADT: 250
CR 350 EAST
FairOver: MARKLEY DITCH
00.10 N OF CR 200 S, Wells, IN
Built 1930 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 244
CR 400 WEST
FairOver: SCUFFLE CREEK
00.01 N OF CR 1100 S, Wells, IN
Built 1986 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 350
CR 50 WEST
FairOver: SCUFFLE CREEK
00.01 N OF CR 1000 S, Wells, IN
Built 1930 Load: 29.5 t ADT: 100
CR 1100N
FairOver: EIGHT MILE CREEK
00.40 W OF CR 100 W, Wells, IN
Built 1965 Load: 29.7 t ADT: 334
CR 300N
FairOver: ROCK CREEK
00.10 E OF CR 500 W, Wells, IN
Built 1973 Load: 29.7 t ADT: 150
CR 1000 WEST
FairOver: OWL CREEK
00.10 N OF CR 900 S, Wells, IN
Built 1988 Load: 29.8 t ADT: 100
CR 700 SOUTH
FairOver: JOHNS DITCH
00.05 W OF CR 300 E, Wells, IN
Built 1960 Load: 29.9 t ADT: 125
CR 600W
FairOver: SALAMONIE RIVER
00.10 N OF CR 900 S, Wells, IN
Built 1978 Load: 30.0 t ADT: 330
CR 200S
FairOver: ROCK CREEK
00.15 E OF CR 300 W, Wells, IN
Built 1966 Load: 30.6 t ADT: 200
CR 1200 SOUTH
FairOver: PRAIRIE CREEK
00.60 W OF SR 3, Wells, IN
Built 1980 Load: 30.7 t ADT: 100
CR 400 SOUTH
FairOver: STITES DITCH
00.80 W OF CR 200 W, Wells, IN
Built 1988 Load: 31.0 t ADT: 100
CR 400W
FairOver: WITZGALL DITCH
00.80 N OF CR 1100 N, Wells, IN
Built 1979 Load: 31.0 t ADT: 100
CR 100W
FairOver: WABASH RIVER
00.40 N OF CR 400 N, Wells, IN
Built 1983 Load: 31.7 t ADT: 257
SR 1
FairOver: SIX MILE CREEK
02.19 S SR 218, Wells, IN
Built 1987 Load: 31.8 t ADT: 3,041
SR 1
FairOver: EIGHT MILE CREEK
02.95 N US 224, Wells, IN
Built 1982 Load: 31.8 t ADT: 12,502
CR 1000 NORTH
FairOver: BIG CREEK
00.85 W OF CR 300 W, Wells, IN
Built 1975 Load: 31.8 t ADT: 100
CR 500E
FairOver: SIX MILE CREEK
00.10 S OF SR 218, Wells, IN
Built 1969 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 250
CR 500 EAST
FairOver: SIX MILE CREEK
00.01 S OF CR 700 S, Wells, IN
Built 1920 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 250
JEFF ROAD
FairOver: PRAIRIE CREEK
00.30 W OF CR 700 W, Wells, IN
Built 1995 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 100
CR 1125W
FairOver: BLACK CREEK
00.10 N OF CR 650 S, Wells, IN
Built 1980 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 175
CR 600E
FairOver: SIX MILE CREEK
00.10 S OF CR 500 S, Wells, IN
Built 1970 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 200
CR 600E
FairOver: SIX MILE CREEK
00.25 N OF SR 218, Wells, IN
Built 1970 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 200
CR 100E
FairOver: ROCK CREEK
00.01 S OF CR 550 S, Wells, IN
Built 1975 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 100
CR 500 EAST
FairOver: EIGHT MILE NO 2 DITCH
00.40 N OF CR 800 N, Wells, IN
Built 1975 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 100
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
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.