County profile · official public datasets

Ashland County, WI

84 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.4% rated Good, 40.5% Fair, 7.1% Poor.

84
Public bridges: 52.4%
Good condition: 7.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Ashland County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

44th
of 72 on Poor share: 7.1%
Poor-condition share: 84
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Ashland County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ashland County ranks #44 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.1%). Ashland County, Wisconsin contains 84 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.4% are rated “Good,” 40.5% “Fair,” and 7.1% “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.

Total bridges

Public highway bridges in Ashland County

Good condition

52.4%

44 of 84 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40.5%

34 of 84 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.1%

6 of 84 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#44 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 84 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

52.4% (44)

Fair

40.5% (34)

Poor

7.1% (6)

Ashland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,000 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 500 crossings a day against 731 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 84 of 84 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

26.2% of Ashland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

22 of the 84 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 52.4% 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 56.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STH 13 over CHIPPEWA RIVER 33, built 1997, carries 1,700 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,000 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1940s

3
1950s

7
1960s

6
1970s

12
1980s

14
1990s

20
2000s

8
2010s

5
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Ashland County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.1% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 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 Ashland County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Sawyer County	97	44.3%	43.3%	12.4%	1987
Kewaunee County	93	47.3%	47.3%	5.4%	1988
Ashland County (this page)	84	52.4%	40.5%	7.1%	1983
Marquette County	81	53.1%	43.2%	3.7%	1988
Langlade County	78	55.1%	30.8%	14.1%	1984
Polk County	73	30.1%	52.1%	17.8%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (84 bridges here).

Chaffee County, CO · 84 bridges
Elbert County, GA · 84 bridges
Glynn County, GA · 84 bridges
Paulding County, GA · 84 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 84 Good 44 Fair 34 Poor 6

Good-condition bridges (44)

Sort:

Ashland County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ashland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,000 vehicle crossings a day

26.2% of Ashland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 56.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ashland County compares with Wisconsin'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 (44)

FR168

FR199

USH 2-FRONT ST

CTH F

IRR BIA RTE 19

FR196

LRD REIMER RD

STH 13-STH 77

FR189

LRD F R 180

LRD ELM HOIST ROAD

LRD MIKA ROAD

NO DATA ENTERED

LRD GORDON LAKE RD

LRD BUTLER RD

LRD MASTERSON FIRE

LRD SINK HOLE RD (

CTH C

CTH C

CTH N

LRD WILL RD (DEAD

LRD IRR (GOVERNMEN

LRD GOSLIN ROAD (D

IRR BIA RTE 52

STH 13

STH 112

LRD PIEPER RD (DEA

LRD SOSIN ROAD

LRD CAYUGA ROAD

LRD 1ST AVE

LRD THOMAS ST

STH 13

CTH N

STH 13

LRD MANKENBURG RD

LRD STRICKER RD (D

LRD MACKENBERG-LEN

STH 13-STH 77-MAIN

LRD LONG LAKE RD

LRD MORSE RD

IRR BIA RTE 33

IRR BIA RTE 33

FR 189

NO DATA ENTERED

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