Total bridges
158
Public highway bridges in Jackson County
County profile · official public datasets
Jackson County, MI
158 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.2% rated Good, 55.7% Fair, 10.1% Poor.
- 158
- Public bridges
- 34.2%
- Good condition
- 10.1%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Jackson County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 48%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 10.1%
- 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.
Jackson County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jackson County ranks #40 of 83 Michigan counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.1%). Jackson County, Michigan contains 158 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.2% are rated “Good,” 55.7% “Fair,” and 10.1% “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.
Good condition
34.2%
54 of 158 rated 7-9
Fair condition
55.7%
88 of 158 rated 5-6
Poor condition
10.1%
16 of 158 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#40 of 83
Among Michigan counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 158 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 34.2% (54)
Fair 55.7% (88)
Poor 10.1% (16)
Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 105,836 vehicle crossings a day
That is 8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,615 crossings a day against 6,391 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.
48.1% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
76 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 34.2% 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 20.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
I-94BL US127BR M50 over GRAND RIVER, built 1967, carries 21,340 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 105,836 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Jackson County's bridges were built
158 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1920s 5
1920–1929
5 bridges
- 1930s 12
1930–1939
12 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
35 bridges
- 1960s 13
1960–1969
13 bridges
- 1970s 11
1970–1979
11 bridges
- 1980s 12
1980–1989
12 bridges
- 1990s 9
1990–1999
9 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
29 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
17 bridges
- 2020s 9
2020–2029
9 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 35 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 (1978) matches the Michigan average (1976).
How Jackson County compares with Michigan's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Michigan counties nearest Jackson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.1% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 82 Michigan counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bay County | 166 | 30.1% | 53% | 16.9% | 1974 |
| Livingston County | 165 | 26.7% | 58.8% | 14.5% | 1974 |
| Lapeer County | 163 | 36.2% | 54.6% | 9.2% | 1982 |
| Shiawassee County | 163 | 45.4% | 45.4% | 9.2% | 1981 |
| Jackson County (this page) | 158 | 34.2% | 55.7% | 10.1% | 1978 |
| Kalamazoo County | 151 | 41.1% | 52.3% | 6.6% | 1984 |
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 Jackson 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 Jackson County, both outside Michigan so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MI (158 bridges here).
- Napa County, CA · 158 bridges
- Wells County, IN · 158 bridges
- Yalobusha County, MS · 158 bridges
- Fergus County, MT · 158 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MI (1978 here).
- Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
- Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
- Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
- Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (16)
ALBION ROAD
PoorOver: N BRANCH KALAMAZOO RIVER
2 MI N OF CONCORD, Jackson, MI
Built 1929 Load: 0.3 t ADT: 1,140
TRIST ROAD
PoorOver: PORTAGE RIVER S BR
0.5 MI S 3 M W WATERLOO, Jackson, MI
Built 1939 Load: 2.6 t ADT: 624
BENN ROAD
PoorOver: SANDSTONE CREEK
1.6 MI E 2.0 MI N PARMA, Jackson, MI
Built 1939 Load: 4.5 t ADT: 396
PALMER & WOLF LAKE
PoorOver: RAISIN RIVER
1 MI S 2 MI W OF NORVELL, Jackson, MI
Built 1942 Load: 7.1 t ADT: 120
HANOVER ROAD
PoorOver: S BRANCH KALAMAZOO RIVER
2.5 M W & 1.0 M S PULASKI, Jackson, MI
Built 1938 Load: 11.3 t ADT: 150
GOOSE LAKE ROAD
PoorOver: S BRANCH KALAMAZOO RIVER
2.5 MI S 1.8 MI W PULASKI, Jackson, MI
Built 1974 Load: 19.4 t ADT: 100
MLK JR DR
PoorOver: GRAND RIVER
CBD CONN. TO COOPER ST.BR, Jackson, MI
Built 1903 Load: 19.6 t ADT: 6,343
EAST GANSON STREET
PoorOver: GRAND RIVER
400 FT E OF N JACKSON ST, Jackson, MI
Built 1956 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 11,402
SPRINGPORT ROAD
PoorOver: SANDSTONE CREEK
2 MI S OF TOMPKINS CENTER, Jackson, MI
Built 1973 Load: 23.0 t ADT: 700
US-127 BR / M-106
PoorOver: GRAND RIVER
IN JACKSON (MILWAUKEE ST), Jackson, MI
Built 1915 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 15,940
CEMENT CITY ROAD
PoorOver: GOOSE CREEK
1 MI E OF CEMENT CITY, Jackson, MI
Built 1938 Load: 26.9 t ADT: 2,173
M-106
PoorOver: PORTAGE RIVER
3 MI NE OF I-94, Jackson, MI
Built 1976 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 6,730
US-127
PoorOver: GRAND RIVER
AT US-127 & JEFFERSON RD, Jackson, MI
Built 1955 Load: 37.9 t ADT: 16,125
US-127 NB
PoorOver: GRAND RIVER
1.5 MI S OF INGHAM COL, Jackson, MI
Built 1957 Load: 38.2 t ADT: 9,599
I-94BL US127BR M50
PoorOver: GRAND RIVER
IN JACKSON (CLINTON ST), Jackson, MI
Built 1967 Load: 44.7 t ADT: 21,340
US-127 M-50 NB
PoorOver: PARNALL RD
1.4 MI N OF I-94, Jackson, MI
Built 1958 Load: 48.3 t ADT: 12,954
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.