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.

Total bridges

158

Public highway bridges in Wells County

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.

1910s

1
1920s

7
1930s

16
1940s

4
1950s

1
1960s

20
1970s

21
1980s

31
1990s

21
2000s

15
2010s

15
2020s

6

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wells County and the 5 Indiana counties closest to it in inventory size
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 158 Good 62 Fair 87 Poor 9

All bridges (158)

Sort:

Wells County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wells County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,664 vehicle crossings a day

34.8% of Wells County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 39.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wells 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 (158)

CR 1000 WEST

CR 1000 SOUTH

CR 650 SOUTH

CR 1150 SOUTH

CR 1000 WEST

CR 450 EAST

MERIDIAN RD

CR 1100 NORTH

CR 900 NORTH

CR 300 NORTH

SR 124

CR 1000S

CR 700 EAST

MARZANE ROAD

SR 1

SR 116

HOOSIER HIGHWAY

CR 1000 SOUTH

SR 3

CR 100W

CR 400 N

CR 1000 SOUTH

CR 850 NORTH

CR 1000S

SR 124

CR 200 WEST

CR 450 EAST

SR 124

CR 175 EAST

CR 150 EAST

SR 1

CR 100S

CR 700 SOUTH

CR 800 EAST

CR 450 EAST

CR 500 WEST

CR 800 SOUTH

CR 750 EAST

CR 600 WEST

CR 200 SOUTH

SR 301

CR 600E

JEFF ROAD

CR 1100 SOUTH

CR 700 WEST

SR 124

SR 218

CR 300S

SR 218

JEFF ROAD

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