County profile · official public datasets

Oscoda County, MI

15 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.3% rated Good, 46.7% Fair, 20% Poor.

15
Public bridges
33.3%
Good condition
20%
Poor condition

The verdict

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.

Oscoda County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

78th
of 83 on Poor share
20%
Poor-condition share
15
public highway bridges
1989
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.

Oscoda County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Oscoda County ranks #78 of 83 Michigan counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 20%). Oscoda County, Michigan contains 15 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.3% are rated “Good,” 46.7% “Fair,” and 20% “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

15

Public highway bridges in Oscoda County

Good condition

33.3%

5 of 15 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46.7%

7 of 15 rated 5-6

Poor condition

20%

3 of 15 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#78 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
33.3% (5)
Fair
46.7% (7)
Poor
20% (3)

Oscoda County's Poor-condition bridges carry 969 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 20% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 323 crossings a day against 1,210 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.

20% of Oscoda County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

3 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 33.3% 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 75.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CAMP TEN ROAD over AU SABLE RIVER, built 1976, carries 730 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 969 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Oscoda County's bridges were built

15 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 5 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 33.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1989, 13 years newer than the Michigan average of 1976.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

How Oscoda County compares with Michigan's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Michigan counties nearest Oscoda County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 20% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1989 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 12 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 82 Michigan counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Oscoda County and the 5 Michigan counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Montmorency County 21 0%
Charlevoix County 18 16.7%
Antrim County 15 13.3%
Kalkaska County 15 6.7%
Oscoda County (this page) 15 20%
Keweenaw County 12 8.3%

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 Oscoda 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 Oscoda 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).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MI (1989 here).

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.

All 15 Good 5 Fair 7 Poor 3

All bridges (15)

CR 489(RED OAK RD)

Fair

Over: AU SABLE RIVER

SEC 2-3 BIG CREEK TWP, Oscoda, MI

Built 1959 Load: 31.6 t ADT: 1,540

MCKINLEY RD(C 600)

Fair

Over: COMMINS CREEK

MENTOR TWP SEC 11, Oscoda, MI

Built 2003 Load: 34.4 t ADT: 1,440

M-72

Fair

Over: W BR BIG CREEK

4.1 MI E OF CRAWFORD COL, Oscoda, MI

Built 1957 Load: 39.2 t ADT: 2,064

EVANS ROAD

Fair

Over: AU SABLE RIVER

SEC 15 MENTOR TWP, Oscoda, MI

Built 1981 Load: 43.4 t ADT: 309

M-33 M-72

Fair

Over: AU SABLE RIVER

0.7 MI N OF S JCT M-72, Oscoda, MI

Built 1984 Load: 44.4 t ADT: 8,950

OLD 144 ROAD

Fair

Over: WEST BR BIG CREEK

SEC 4-33 BIG CREEK TWP, Oscoda, MI

Built 1991 Load: 48.3 t ADT: 180

M-72

Fair

Over: E BR BIG CREEK

5.3 MI E OF CRAWFORD COL, Oscoda, MI

Built 1960 Load: 73.2 t ADT: 2,656

BROWN CABIN ROAD

Good

Over: BIG CREEK

SEC 12-18 BIG CREEK TWP, Oscoda, MI

Built 2006 Load: 34.7 t ADT: 581

DEETER ROAD

Good

Over: WEST BR BIG CREEK

SEC 23-24 BIG CREEK TWP, Oscoda, MI

Built 2001 Load: 35.0 t ADT: 2,100

MCKINLEY RD(C 600)

Good

Over: PERRY CREEK

MENTOR TWP SEC 9, Oscoda, MI

Built 2003 Load: 46.0 t ADT: 1,440

PARK ROAD

Good

Over: EAST BR BIG CREEK

SEC 25 BIG CREEK TWP, Oscoda, MI

Built 2018 Load: 52.8 t ADT: 500

MCKINLEY RD(C 600)

Good

Over: CHERRY CREEK

MENTOR TWP SEC 5, Oscoda, MI

Built 2003 Load: 53.7 t ADT: 1,430

CAMP TEN ROAD

Poor

Over: AU SABLE RIVER

SEC. 3 BIG CREEK TWP, Oscoda, MI

Built 1976 Load: 28.8 t ADT: 730

RANDAL ROAD

Poor

Over: BIG CREEK

SEC 13-24 BIG CREEK TWP, Oscoda, MI

Built 1985 Load: 56.4 t ADT: 210

WATERWHEEL COURT

Poor

Over: WEST BR BIG CREEK

SEC 23-26 BIG CREEK TWP, Oscoda, MI

Built 2010 Load: 57.6 t ADT: 29

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

Browse all → | Rankings →
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.