County profile · official public datasets

Adams County, WI

41 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 68.3% rated Good, 29.3% Fair, 2.4% Poor.

41
Public bridges
68.3%
Good condition
2.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Adams County posts a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

Top 4%
lowest Poor share in state
2.4%
Poor-condition share
41
public highway bridges
1984
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.

Adams County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Adams County ranks #3 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.4%). Adams County, Wisconsin contains 41 public highway bridges. Roughly 68.3% are rated “Good,” 29.3% “Fair,” and 2.4% “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

41

Public highway bridges in Adams County

Good condition

68.3%

28 of 41 rated 7-9

Fair condition

29.3%

12 of 41 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.4%

1 of 41 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#3 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 41 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
68.3% (28)
Fair
29.3% (12)
Poor
2.4% (1)

Adams County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,100 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,100 crossings a day against 651 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 41 of 41 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

26.8% of Adams County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

11 of the 41 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 68.3% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CTH J over LITTLE ROCHE A CRI CREEK, built 1950, carries 1,100 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 1,100 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Adams County's bridges were built

41 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 10 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

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

How Adams County compares with Wisconsin's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Adams County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.4% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1986 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 71 Wisconsin counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Adams County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Forest County 53 13.2%
Washburn County 49 0%
Green Lake County 48 2.1%
Iron County 48 8.3%
Adams County (this page) 41 2.4%
Door County 32 3.1%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (41 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1984 here).

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

All 41 Good 28 Fair 12 Poor 1

Good-condition bridges (28)

LRD BEAVER AVE

Good

Over: BIG ROCHE A CRI CREEK

4.3M E JCT STH 13, Adams, WI

Built 1950 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 44

LRD BIG HORN AVE

Good

Over: BIG ROCHE A CRI CREEK

3.1M E JCT STH 13, Adams, WI

Built 1960 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 22

LRD BROWN DEER RD

Good

Over: BIG ROCHE A CRI CREEK

1.5M E JCT STH 13, Adams, WI

Built 1960 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 44

LRD BROWNDEER LANE

Good

Over: BIG ROCHE A CRI CREEK

1.4M E JCT STH 13, Adams, WI

Built 1984 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 21

LRD 13TH DR

Good

Over: CARTER CREEK

2.0M S JCT STH 21, Adams, WI

Built 1984 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 205

CTH Z

Good

Over: BIG ROCHE A CRI CREEK

1.3M S JCT STH 21, Adams, WI

Built 1975 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 880

LRD 13TH LANE

Good

Over: BIG ROCHE A CRI CREEK

1.5M W JCT STH 13, Adams, WI

Built 1981 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 86

LRD 8TH DRIVE

Good

Over: BINGHAM CREEK

0.5M N JCT STH 21, Adams, WI

Built 1986 Load: 34.0 t ADT: 80

LRD 18TH AVE

Good

Over: BIG ROCHE A CRI CREEK

1.2M S JCT STH 21, Adams, WI

Built 1991 Load: 34.0 t ADT: 107

STH 13

Good

Over: BIG ROCHE A CRI LAKE

2.4M N JCT STH 21, Adams, WI

Built 2012 Load: 34.7 t ADT: 4,200

CTH G

Good

Over: NO NAME CREEK

1.3MI N OF CTH, Adams, WI

Built 2013 Load: 35.3 t ADT: 650

LRD 8TH AVE

Good

Over: LITTLE ROCHE A CRI CREEK

1.8M N JCT CTH J, Adams, WI

Built 1988 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 78

CTH H

Good

Over: WHITE CREEK

1.6 MI EAST JCT CTH Z, Adams, WI

Built 2003 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 280

LRD 15TH AVE

Good

Over: WHITE CREEK

0.1M N JCT CTH H, Adams, WI

Built 1988 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 77

LRD 6TH AVE

Good

Over: BUCKNER CREEK

2.3M N JCT CTH C, Adams, WI

Built 1989 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 64

LRD ELK AVE

Good

Over: UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD

2.4M E JCT CTH B, Adams, WI

Built 1997 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 152

LRD RIVER ROAD

Good

Over: COLDWATER CANYON

2.0M S JCT STH 13, Adams, WI

Built 1997 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 1,300

CTH C

Good

Over: BIG ROCHE A CRI CREEK

2.7M E JCT STH 13, Adams, WI

Built 1999 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 860

LRD 11TH AVE

Good

Over: BINGHAM CREEK

1.4M S JCT STH 21, Adams, WI

Built 2001 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 182

STH 21

Good

Over: CARTER CREEK

0.6M E JCT STH 13, Adams, WI

Built 2013 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 3,800

LRD CZECH RD

Good

Over: ROCHE A CRI CREEK

3.2M E JCT STH 13, Adams, WI

Built 1984 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 82

CTH W

Good

Over: BIG ROCHE A CRI CREEK

1.1 MI N. JCT CTH O, Adams, WI

Built 2005 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 180

LRD ANIWA LN

Good

Over: BR FOURTEEN MILE CREEK

4.3M E JCT STH 13, Adams, WI

Built 1978 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 22

LRD COTTONVILLE AV

Good

Over: CARTER CREEK

1.7M E JCT STH 13, Adams, WI

Built 1990 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 96

CTH O

Good

Over: BR BIG ROCHE A CRI CR

1.8 MILES W. JCT. CTH W, Adams, WI

Built 2006 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 130

CTH O

Good

Over: BIG ROCHE A CRI CR

1.3 MILES W. JCT. CTH W, Adams, WI

Built 2006 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 130

STH 21

Good

Over: WISCONSIN R BACKWATER

1.2M E OF 18TH AVE, Adams, WI

Built 2010 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 4,300

LRD EDGEWOOD DR

Good

Over: BR WISCONSIN RIVER

0.6M W JCT CTH Z, Adams, WI

Built 2009 Load: 50.2 t ADT: 164

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

Related

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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.