County profile · official public datasets

Bayfield County, WI

103 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.3% rated Good, 38.8% Fair, 4.9% Poor.

103
Public bridges: 56.3%
Good condition: 4.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 33%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.9%
Poor-condition share: 103
public highway bridges: 1990
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.

Bayfield County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bayfield County ranks #24 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.9%). Bayfield County, Wisconsin contains 103 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.3% are rated “Good,” 38.8% “Fair,” and 4.9% “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

103

Public highway bridges in Bayfield County

Good condition

56.3%

58 of 103 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.8%

40 of 103 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.9%

5 of 103 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#24 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 103 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

56.3% (58)

Fair

38.8% (40)

Poor

4.9% (5)

Bayfield County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,027 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 405 crossings a day against 984 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 103 of 103 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

19.4% of Bayfield County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

20 of the 103 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 56.3% 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 43.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STH 13 over SAND RIVER, built 1956, carries 880 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,027 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

1
1950s

10
1960s

3
1970s

10
1980s

18
1990s

20
2000s

17
2010s

11
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1990, 6 years newer than the Wisconsin average of 1984.

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Bayfield County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.9% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1990 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bayfield County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Kenosha County	109	67%	29.4%	3.7%	1997
Ozaukee County	105	35.2%	61.9%	2.9%	1982
Price County	104	53.8%	35.6%	10.6%	1982
Bayfield County (this page)	103	56.3%	38.8%	4.9%	1990
Sawyer County	97	44.3%	43.3%	12.4%	1987
Kewaunee County	93	47.3%	47.3%	5.4%	1988

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (103 bridges here).

Kenai Peninsula County, AK · 103 bridges
Dallas County, AR · 103 bridges
Morgan County, GA · 103 bridges
Rawlins County, KS · 103 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1990 here).

Maricopa County, AZ · avg 1990 · 2,847 bridges
Tarrant County, TX · avg 1990 · 2,617 bridges
Fairfax County, VA · avg 1990 · 751 bridges
Guilford County, NC · avg 1990 · 736 bridges

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

All 103 Good 58 Fair 40 Poor 5

All bridges (103)

Sort:

Bayfield County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bayfield County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,027 vehicle crossings a day

19.4% of Bayfield County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 43.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bayfield 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

All bridges (103)

LRD COLBY RD

FR196

LRD LEONARD SCHOOL

LRD MARENGO LAKE R

LRD RANDYSEK RD

LRD COUNTY LINE RD

LRD SCENIC DR

LRD BAYFIELD LINE

LRD BIRCH POINT RD

STH 27

LRD CRANBERRY RIVE

STH 13

LRD PIKE RIVER RD

USH 63

STH 13

STH 13

STH 13

FR194

USH 2-STH 13

CTH M

LRD AIRPORT RD

CTH A

CTH A

STH 13

LRD TELEMARK RD

LRD BEACH RD

LRD QUARRY RD

USH 2-STH 13

STH 13

STH 13

LRD CHEESE FACTORY

USH 2

USH 2

LRD SISKIWIT FALLS

STH 137

LRD MAPLE RIDGE RD

LRD CHURCH CORNER

STH 13

STH 13

LRD OLD HWY 13

CTH F

LRD 4 CORNERS RD

LRD AIRPORT RD

LRD CHURCH CORNER

CTH A

LRD LENAWEE RD

USH 63

CTH "E"

LRD SOUTH SHORE RO

LRD DAM RD

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