County profile · official public datasets

Buffalo County, WI

238 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 63% rated Good, 28.6% Fair, 8.4% Poor.

238
Public bridges: 63%
Good condition: 8.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

51st
of 72 on Poor share: 8.4%
Poor-condition share: 238
public highway bridges: 1987
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.

Buffalo County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Buffalo County ranks #51 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.4%). Buffalo County, Wisconsin contains 238 public highway bridges. Roughly 63% are rated “Good,” 28.6% “Fair,” and 8.4% “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

238

Public highway bridges in Buffalo County

Good condition

63%

150 of 238 rated 7-9

Fair condition

28.6%

68 of 238 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.4%

20 of 238 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#51 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 238 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

63% (150)

Fair

28.6% (68)

Poor

8.4% (20)

Buffalo County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,222 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 761 crossings a day against 810 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 238 of 238 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

25.2% of Buffalo County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

60 of the 238 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 63% 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 13.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STH 35 over SLOUGH, built 1933, carries 2,100 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 20-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 15,222 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

9
1930s

12
1940s

4
1950s

12
1960s

13
1970s

24
1980s

36
1990s

29
2000s

56
2010s

25
2020s

16

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 56 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1987) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Buffalo County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.4% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Buffalo County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dunn County	245	45.7%	45.3%	9%	1982
Green County	244	45.5%	45.9%	8.6%	1978
Sheboygan County	240	39.2%	55.4%	5.4%	1979
Wood County	239	62.3%	31.8%	5.9%	1986
Buffalo County (this page)	238	63%	28.6%	8.4%	1987
Eau Claire County	236	42.8%	49.6%	7.6%	1982

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (238 bridges here).

Volusia County, FL · 238 bridges
Lafayette County, MO · 238 bridges
Huntingdon County, PA · 238 bridges
Greene County, IN · 239 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1987 here).

St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
St. Louis County, MN · avg 1987 · 663 bridges
Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges

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

All 238 Good 150 Fair 68 Poor 20

Fair-condition bridges (68)

Sort:

Buffalo County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Buffalo County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,222 vehicle crossings a day

25.2% of Buffalo County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 13.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Buffalo 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

Fair-condition bridges (68)

LRD RICHARD RD

CTH B

CTH D

CTH J

CTH E

CTH BB

LRD EBERSOLD RD (D

CTH U

LRD YAEGER VALLEY

LRD OLD STH 35 (DE

LRD SOBOTTA RD (DE

CTH OO

STH 35

LRD KAMROWSKI RD

CTH F

STH 25

USH 10

CTH HH

CTH C

LRD SCHMIDT RD (DE

CTH E

CTH KK

STH 25

STH 54

LRD BAERTSCH RD

LRD A YARINGTON RD

STH 37

CTH II

CTH P

STH 37

LRD H & R DR (DEAD

CTH X

STH 88

CTH H EAU CLAIRE

STH 25

CTH G

LRD ROSE VALLEY RD

LRD SMEIJA ROAD (D

USH 10-STH 37-MAIN

CTH BB

STH 35

LRD WARD RD

LRD RIVER RD

STH 37-ALMA RD

STH 95

STH 121

CTH HH

CTH BB

STH 35-MAIN ST

LRD HEZBERG RD

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