Total bridges
18
Public highway bridges in Charlevoix County
County profile · official public datasets
Charlevoix County, MI
18 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.9% rated Good, 44.4% Fair, 16.7% Poor.
- 18
- Public bridges
- 38.9%
- Good condition
- 16.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Charlevoix County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.
- 64th
- of 83 on Poor share
- 16.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 18
- public highway bridges
- 1973
- 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.
Charlevoix County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Charlevoix County ranks #64 of 83 Michigan counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 16.7%). Charlevoix County, Michigan contains 18 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.9% are rated “Good,” 44.4% “Fair,” and 16.7% “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
38.9%
7 of 18 rated 7-9
Fair condition
44.4%
8 of 18 rated 5-6
Poor condition
16.7%
3 of 18 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#64 of 83
Among Michigan counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 18 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 38.9% (7)
Fair 44.4% (8)
Poor 16.7% (3)
Charlevoix County's Poor-condition bridges carry 16,604 vehicle crossings a day
That is 32% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 16.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 5,535 crossings a day against 674 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 18 of 18 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
55.6% of Charlevoix County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
10 of the 18 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 38.9% 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 92.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US-31 over PINE RIVER, built 1949, carries 15,321 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 16,604 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Charlevoix County's bridges were built
18 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
4 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
2 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
2 bridges
- 1990s 1
1990–1999
1 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
4 bridges
- 2010s 1
2010–2019
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 4 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Michigan average (1976).
How Charlevoix County compares with Michigan's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Michigan counties nearest Charlevoix County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 16.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 7 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 82 Michigan counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montmorency County | 21 | 57.1% | 42.9% | 0% | 1995 |
| Charlevoix County (this page) | 18 | 38.9% | 44.4% | 16.7% | 1973 |
| Antrim County | 15 | 46.7% | 40% | 13.3% | 1980 |
| Kalkaska County | 15 | 46.7% | 46.7% | 6.7% | 1975 |
| Oscoda County | 15 | 33.3% | 46.7% | 20% | 1989 |
| Keweenaw County | 12 | 33.3% | 58.3% | 8.3% | 1963 |
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 Charlevoix 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 Charlevoix County, both outside Michigan so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MI (18 bridges here).
- Haskell County, KS · 18 bridges
- Rolette County, ND · 18 bridges
- Ciales County, PR · 18 bridges
- Briscoe County, TX · 18 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MI (1973 here).
- Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
- Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
- Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
- Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (3)
IRON BRIDGE ROAD
PoorOver: STURGEON RIVER
10 MI EAST OF BOYNE FALLS, Charlevoix, MI
Built 1900 Load: 3.6 t ADT: 3
SPRINGVALE ROAD
PoorOver: BEAR RIVER
MELROSE TWP SEC 10 & 15, Charlevoix, MI
Built 1950 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 1,280
US-31
PoorOver: PINE RIVER
IN CHARLEVOIX, Charlevoix, MI
Built 1949 Load: 30.1 t ADT: 15,321
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.