Total bridges
112
Public highway bridges in Chippewa County
County profile · official public datasets
Chippewa County, MI
112 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 22.3% rated Good, 65.2% Fair, 12.5% Poor.
- 112
- Public bridges
- 22.3%
- Good condition
- 12.5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Chippewa County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 48th
- of 83 on Poor share
- 12.5%
- Poor-condition share
- 112
- public highway bridges
- 1974
- 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.
Chippewa County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Chippewa County ranks #48 of 83 Michigan counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.5%). Chippewa County, Michigan contains 112 public highway bridges. Roughly 22.3% are rated “Good,” 65.2% “Fair,” and 12.5% “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
22.3%
25 of 112 rated 7-9
Fair condition
65.2%
73 of 112 rated 5-6
Poor condition
12.5%
14 of 112 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#48 of 83
Among Michigan counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 112 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 22.3% (25)
Fair 65.2% (73)
Poor 12.5% (14)
Chippewa County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,966 vehicle crossings a day
That is 4.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 569 crossings a day against 1,514 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 111 of 112 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
45.5% of Chippewa County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
51 of the 112 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 22.3% 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 42% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
M-129 over FLETCHER CREEK, built 1929, carries 3,344 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 7,966 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Chippewa County's bridges were built
112 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1920s 4
1920–1929
4 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
9 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
8 bridges
- 1950s 5
1950–1959
5 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
20 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
15 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
14 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
12 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
15 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
8 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Michigan average (1976).
How Chippewa County compares with Michigan's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Michigan counties nearest Chippewa County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.5% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 82 Michigan counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montcalm County | 121 | 37.2% | 57.9% | 5% | 1977 |
| Ionia County | 119 | 32.8% | 58.8% | 8.4% | 1974 |
| Branch County | 118 | 24.6% | 54.2% | 21.2% | 1973 |
| Chippewa County (this page) | 112 | 22.3% | 65.2% | 12.5% | 1974 |
| Hillsdale County | 105 | 24.8% | 58.1% | 17.1% | 1973 |
| Gogebic County | 104 | 23.1% | 59.6% | 17.3% | 1969 |
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 Chippewa 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 Chippewa County, both outside Michigan so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MI (112 bridges here).
- Columbia County, FL · 112 bridges
- Sumter County, FL · 112 bridges
- Houston County, GA · 112 bridges
- Tift County, GA · 112 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MI (1974 here).
- Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
- Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
- Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
- Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (14)
16 MILE RD
PoorOver: LITTLE MUNNSCING
1/8 MI WEST OF M-129, Chippewa, MI
Built 2001 Load: 6.5 t ADT: 20
PENNINGTON ROAD
PoorOver: EAST BR MUNUSCONG RIVER
3.5 MI SE OF PICKFORD, Chippewa, MI
Built 1990 Load: 7.8 t ADT: 10
HUCKLEBERRY ROAD
PoorOver: CARP RIVER
1.5 MI S OF TROUT LAKE, Chippewa, MI
Built 1965 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 22
EAST-WEST RD
PoorOver: ROXBURY CREEK
12 MI N ECKERMAN, Chippewa, MI
Built 1947 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 30
EAST-WEST RD
PoorOver: NAOMIKONG CR
10 MI N OF STRONGS, Chippewa, MI
Built 1947 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 30
MACKINAC TRAIL
PoorOver: CHUB CREEK
5 MI S OF RUDYARD, Chippewa, MI
Built 1933 Load: 19.3 t ADT: 216
OLD MACKINAC TRAIL
PoorOver: PINE RIVER
3 MI S OF RUDYARD, Chippewa, MI
Built 1931 Load: 26.2 t ADT: 216
MACKINAC TRAIL
PoorOver: CHARLOTTE RIVER
4 MI S OF SAULT STE MARIE, Chippewa, MI
Built 1930 Load: 29.1 t ADT: 1,653
12 MILE ROAD
PoorOver: CHARLOTTE RIVER
12 MI SE OF SAULT STE MAR, Chippewa, MI
Built 1907 Load: 32.1 t ADT: 50
M-129
PoorOver: FLETCHER CREEK
0.5 MI N OF TONE ROAD, Chippewa, MI
Built 1929 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 3,344
M-28
PoorOver: HENDRIE RIVER
2.4 MI E OF LUCE CO LINE, Chippewa, MI
Built 1960 Load: 36.6 t ADT: 2,127
RIVERSIDE DRIVE
PoorOver: LITTLE MUNUSCONG R
17 MI S OF SAULT STE MARI, Chippewa, MI
Built 1977 Load: 37.9 t ADT: 111
NORTH HULBERT ROAD
PoorOver: TAHQUAMENON RIVER
14 MI NW OF ECKERMAN, Chippewa, MI
Built 1986 Load: 39.2 t ADT: 54
CURLEY LEWIS FH42
PoorOver: ROXBURY CREEK
AT TAHQUAMENON BAY, Chippewa, MI
Built 1974 Load: 46.7 t ADT: 83
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.