Total bridges
15
Public highway bridges in Kalkaska County
County profile · official public datasets
Kalkaska County, MI
15 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 46.7% rated Good, 46.7% Fair, 6.7% Poor.
- 15
- Public bridges
- 46.7%
- Good condition
- 6.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Kalkaska County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.
- Top 29%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 6.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 15
- public highway bridges
- 1975
- 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.
Kalkaska County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Kalkaska County ranks #24 of 83 Michigan counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.7%). Kalkaska County, Michigan contains 15 public highway bridges. Roughly 46.7% are rated “Good,” 46.7% “Fair,” and 6.7% “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
46.7%
7 of 15 rated 7-9
Fair condition
46.7%
7 of 15 rated 5-6
Poor condition
6.7%
1 of 15 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#24 of 83
Among Michigan counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 15 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 46.7% (7)
Fair 46.7% (7)
Poor 6.7% (1)
Kalkaska County's Poor-condition bridges carry 19 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 19 crossings a day against 1,227 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 15 of 15 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
40% of Kalkaska County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
6 of the 15 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 46.7% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
KNISS ROAD over NORTH BR MANISTEE RIVER, built 1910, carries 19 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 19 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Kalkaska County's bridges were built
15 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1940s 1
1940–1949
1 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
3 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
3 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
3 bridges
- 1990s 1
1990–1999
1 bridges
- 2000s 1
2000–2009
1 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
2 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 3 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Michigan average (1976).
How Kalkaska County compares with Michigan's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Michigan counties nearest Kalkaska County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 5 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 | 18 | 38.9% | 44.4% | 16.7% | 1973 |
| Antrim County | 15 | 46.7% | 40% | 13.3% | 1980 |
| Oscoda County | 15 | 33.3% | 46.7% | 20% | 1989 |
| Kalkaska County (this page) | 15 | 46.7% | 46.7% | 6.7% | 1975 |
| 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 Kalkaska 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 Kalkaska County, both outside Michigan so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MI (15 bridges here).
- Yakutat City and County, AK · 15 bridges
- Aibonito County, PR · 15 bridges
- Manatí County, PR · 15 bridges
- Morovis County, PR · 15 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MI (1975 here).
- San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
- Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
- Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
- Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (7)
AARWOOD ROAD
GoodOver: RAPID RIVER
1.5 MI NW OF RAPID CITY, Kalkaska, MI
Built 2012 Load: 39.5 t ADT: 1,340
N RAPID CITY ROAD
GoodOver: RAPID RIVER
0.3 MI N OF RAPID CITY, Kalkaska, MI
Built 1983 Load: 39.5 t ADT: 5,800
SUNSET TRAIL
GoodOver: MANISTEE RIVER
19 MI SE OF KALKASKA, Kalkaska, MI
Built 1989 Load: 47.3 t ADT: 89
W SHARON ROAD
GoodOver: MANISTEE RIVER
15 MI SE OF KALKASKA, Kalkaska, MI
Built 1958 Load: 54.1 t ADT: 1,060
ARF-AFF RANGE ROAD
GoodOver: PORTAGE CREEK
1.2 MI N OF HOWE ROAD, Kalkaska, MI
Built 1999 Load: 63.2 t ADT: 50
MECUM ROAD
GoodOver: N BR MANISTEE RIVER
1.3 MI E OF SIGMA ROAD, Kalkaska, MI
Built 2012 Load: 64.2 t ADT: 100
N SHARON RD/CO 571
GoodOver: NORTH BR MANISTEE RIVER
GARFIELD TWP SEC 6, Kalkaska, MI
Built 2002 Load: 68.7 t ADT: 150
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.