County profile · official public datasets

Wayne County, MI

1,026 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.9% rated Good, 50.4% Fair, 11.7% Poor.

1,026
Public bridges: 37.9%
Good condition: 11.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

44th
of 83 on Poor share: 11.7%
Poor-condition share: 1,026
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Wayne County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wayne County ranks #44 of 83 Michigan counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.7%). Wayne County, Michigan contains 1,026 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.9% are rated “Good,” 50.4% “Fair,” and 11.7% “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.

Total bridges

1,026

Public highway bridges in Wayne County

Good condition

37.9%

389 of 1,026 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.4%

517 of 1,026 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.7%

120 of 1,026 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#44 of 83

Among Michigan counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 1,026 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

37.9% (389)

Fair

50.4% (517)

Poor

11.7% (120)

Wayne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,926,774 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 16,056 crossings a day against 20,428 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 1,020 of 1,026 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

70.4% of Wayne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

722 of the 1,026 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 37.9% 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 5.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-94 over ENT TO FORD PLANT, built 1971, carries 98,506 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 120-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,926,774 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

1
1920s

45
1930s

67
1940s

37
1950s

113
1960s

201
1970s

297
1980s

55
1990s

45
2000s

90
2010s

45
2020s

28

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 297 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1971, 5 years older than the Michigan average of 1976.

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

The 5 Michigan counties nearest Wayne County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wayne County and the 5 Michigan counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wayne County (this page)	1,026	37.9%	50.4%	11.7%	1971
Kent County	523	36.9%	57.7%	5.4%	1975
Oakland County	508	41.5%	51%	7.5%	1982
Macomb County	417	42.7%	49.6%	7.7%	1980
Genesee County	371	22.9%	61.7%	15.4%	1968
St. Clair County	327	41.3%	50.5%	8.3%	1985

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 Wayne 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 Wayne County, both outside Michigan so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MI (1,026 bridges here).

Worcester County, MA · 1,014 bridges
Lane County, OR · 1,010 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · 1,057 bridges
Denton County, TX · 991 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MI (1971 here).

Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges
Monmouth County, NJ · avg 1971 · 505 bridges

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

All 1,026 Good 389 Fair 517 Poor 120

Good-condition bridges (389)

Sort:

Wayne County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wayne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,926,774 vehicle crossings a day

70.4% of Wayne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 5.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

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

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Good-condition bridges (389)

PICNIC WAY

LAKESIDE DRIVE

I-275 SB ON RAMP

BRUSH ST

I-75 NB

MT ELLIOT ST

BURNS AVE

LFT TRN E BEECH DL

I-75 NB

TRUCK INSP TO I-75

HARPER AVE

HURON RIVER DRIVE

HAZEL STREET

US-12 WB

CANFIELD AVE

DEQUINDRE U-TURN

GODDARD ROAD

M-8 EB DAVISON

I-96 WB SERV RD

M-1 WOODWARD AVE

GLENDALE AVE

VERNOR AVE

LOTZ ROAD

FORD RD

I-275 NB ON RAMP

VAN HORN ROAD

GODDARD AVENUE

I-94 WB

CASS AVE

SB I-75 EXIT RAMP

SEVEN MILE ROAD

WASHINGTON ST

GR RIV LT TRN(M-5)

I-75 SB

CHURCH ROAD

DIVISION

WILKINS

EVERGREEN RD NB

CHAMPAIGN RD

DAVISON RMP TO 75

MIDFIELD RAMP C1

ADELAIDE

EVERGREEN RD SB

LFT TRN W OF LEVAN

I-75 SB

WEIR RD

DAVISON RAMP(M-8)

GROSSE ILE PARKWAY

TOLEDO ROAD

M-153 WB

Related