Total bridges
466
Public highway bridges in Brown County
County profile · official public datasets
Brown County, WI
466 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 51.3% rated Good, 44.8% Fair, 3.9% Poor.
- 466
- Public bridges
- 51.3%
- Good condition
- 3.9%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Brown County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 25%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 3.9%
- Poor-condition share
- 466
- 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.
Brown County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Brown County ranks #18 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.9%). Brown County, Wisconsin contains 466 public highway bridges. Roughly 51.3% are rated “Good,” 44.8% “Fair,” and 3.9% “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.
Good condition
51.3%
239 of 466 rated 7-9
Fair condition
44.8%
209 of 466 rated 5-6
Poor condition
3.9%
18 of 466 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#18 of 72
Among Wisconsin counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 466 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 51.3% (239)
Fair 44.8% (209)
Poor 3.9% (18)
Brown County's Poor-condition bridges carry 62,050 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,447 crossings a day against 13,869 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 466 of 466 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
22.1% of Brown County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
103 of the 466 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 51.3% 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 18.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
LRD LARSON RD over BEAVER CREEK, built 1978, carries 11,375 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 62,050 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Brown County's bridges were built
466 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 2
1900–1909
2 bridges
- 1920s 5
1920–1929
5 bridges
- 1930s 1
1930–1939
1 bridges
- 1940s 4
1940–1949
4 bridges
- 1950s 16
1950–1959
16 bridges
- 1960s 17
1960–1969
17 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
107 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
95 bridges
- 1990s 45
1990–1999
45 bridges
- 2000s 39
2000–2009
39 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
119 bridges
- 2020s 16
2020–2029
16 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 119 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1990, 6 years newer than the Wisconsin average of 1984.
How Brown County compares with Wisconsin's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Brown County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1990 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is 7 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 71 Wisconsin counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marathon County | 530 | 46.4% | 43.4% | 10.2% | 1982 |
| Brown County (this page) | 466 | 51.3% | 44.8% | 3.9% | 1990 |
| Grant County | 383 | 66.1% | 29.5% | 4.4% | 1984 |
| Monroe County | 374 | 50.5% | 46% | 3.5% | 1981 |
| Waukesha County | 369 | 53.1% | 40.4% | 6.5% | 1984 |
| Chippewa County | 359 | 34.8% | 56% | 9.2% | 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 Brown 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 Brown County, both outside Wisconsin so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside WI (466 bridges here).
- Sangamon County, IL · 466 bridges
- Winnebago County, IL · 467 bridges
- Broome County, NY · 468 bridges
- Jefferson County, CO · 464 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 bridges (466)
LRD ROSECRANS RD
PoorOver: DEVIL RIVER STATE TRAIL
0.5M S JCT CTH R, Brown, WI
Built 1959 Load: 19.4 t ADT: 258
CTH Z (HILL ROAD)
PoorOver: PLUM CREEK
1.0M E JCT CTH D, Brown, WI
Built 1969 Load: 19.4 t ADT: 1,100
CTH Z
PoorOver: BRANCH RIVER
0.1M E JCT CTH G, Brown, WI
Built 1900 Load: 19.4 t ADT: 840
LRD NORWAY CT (DEA
PoorOver: BR SUAMICO RIVER
1.2M W JCT CTH B, Brown, WI
Built 1976 Load: 19.4 t ADT: 20
CTH C
PoorOver: SUAMICO RIVER
1.0M S JCT CTH B, Brown, WI
Built 1948 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 890
LRD HENRY ST
PoorOver: BAIRD CREEK
0.4M S JCT STH 54, Brown, WI
Built 1970 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 6,180
LRD OCONNOR RD
PoorOver: BR DUCK CREEK
0.3M E JCT CTH HS, Brown, WI
Built 1978 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 1,657
LRD CORNELL RD
PoorOver: BR DUCK CREEK
0.1M NORTH OF CTH EB, Brown, WI
Built 1978 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 2,007
CTH X
PoorOver: EAST RIVER
0.8M W JCT CTH GV, Brown, WI
Built 1982 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 6,800
LRD TAYLOR ST
PoorOver: BEAVER CREEK
0.2M N JCT STH 54, Brown, WI
Built 1970 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 9,300
CTH EE
PoorOver: ASHWAUBENON CREEK
0.2M W JCT USH 41, Brown, WI
Built 1965 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 8,200
CTH D
PoorOver: BR PLUM CREEK
1.3M S JCT CTH Z, Brown, WI
Built 1986 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,600
LRD GRAND VIEW RD
PoorOver: BAIRD CREEK
1.7M S JCT STH 54, Brown, WI
Built 1970 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 323
LRD LARSON RD
PoorOver: BEAVER CREEK
0.6M E JCT CTH EB, Brown, WI
Built 1978 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 11,375
CTH MM DUTCHMAN R
PoorOver: SORENSONS CREEK
0.6M S JCT USH 141, Brown, WI
Built 2004 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 3,000
CTH G
PoorOver: BRANCH RIVER
1.5M N JCT CTH W, Brown, WI
Built 1976 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 1,400
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.