Total bridges
238
Public highway bridges in Buffalo County
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.
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.
When Buffalo County's bridges were built
238 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1920s 9
1920–1929
9 bridges
- 1930s 12
1930–1939
12 bridges
- 1940s 4
1940–1949
4 bridges
- 1950s 12
1950–1959
12 bridges
- 1960s 13
1960–1969
13 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
24 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
36 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
29 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
56 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
25 bridges
- 2020s 16
2020–2029
16 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (20)
LRD HOVEY VALLEY R
PoorOver: ELK CREEK
0.2M N JCT CTH Z, Buffalo, WI
Built 1927 Load: 16.2 t ADT: 58
CTH KK
PoorOver: LEE VALLEY CREEK
0.6M N JCT STH 37, Buffalo, WI
Built 1974 Load: 16.2 t ADT: 130
CTH P
PoorOver: TREMPEALEAU RIVER
0.1M W JCT CTH J, Buffalo, WI
Built 1955 Load: 19.4 t ADT: 325
LRD BLUFF SIDING F
PoorOver: CHICKEN VALLEY CREEK
0.1M N JCT STH 35-54, Buffalo, WI
Built 1928 Load: 21.1 t ADT: 117
CTH G
PoorOver: BR EAGLE RIVER
3.3M N JCT STH 95, Buffalo, WI
Built 1969 Load: 21.1 t ADT: 303
LRD OWEN RD
PoorOver: OWENS VALLEY CREEK
0.2M E JCT CTH F, Buffalo, WI
Built 1973 Load: 21.1 t ADT: 47
LRD ROBELIA RD (DE
PoorOver: BR BEAR CREEK
0.1M E JCT CTH V, Buffalo, WI
Built 1979 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 10
LRD MOTTS ROAD (DE
PoorOver: TAMARACK RIVER
0.1M W JCT CTH J, Buffalo, WI
Built 1982 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 20
CTH A
PoorOver: FARRINGTON CREEK
0.7M W JCT CTH TT, Buffalo, WI
Built 1954 Load: 25.9 t ADT: 726
STH 35
PoorOver: SLOUGH
0.7M N JCT STH 25 TO N, Buffalo, WI
Built 1933 Load: 25.9 t ADT: 2,100
STH 35
PoorOver: SLOUGH
1.2M N JCT STH 25 TO N, Buffalo, WI
Built 1933 Load: 25.9 t ADT: 2,100
LRD FOUR CORNERS R
PoorOver: BOLAND VALLEY CREEK
0.8M S JCT STH 95, Buffalo, WI
Built 1930 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 205
CTH XX
PoorOver: JOHNS VALLEY CREEK
5.4M N JCT STH 88, Buffalo, WI
Built 1925 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 97
STH 35
PoorOver: SLOUGH
0.2M N JCT STH 25 TO N, Buffalo, WI
Built 1933 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 2,100
STH 35
PoorOver: SLOUGH
1.4M N JCT STH 25 TO N, Buffalo, WI
Built 1933 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 2,100
CTH D
PoorOver: NORWEGIAN VALLEY CREEK
0.1M N JCT CTH KK, Buffalo, WI
Built 1928 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 303
LRD BLOCK RD (DEAD
PoorOver: LITTLE WAUMANDEE CREEK
0.2M W JCT STH 88, Buffalo, WI
Built 1926 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 10
CTH E
PoorOver: LITTLE WAUMANDEE CREEK
0.1M W JCT STH 88, Buffalo, WI
Built 1952 Load: 34.0 t ADT: 271
STH 35
PoorOver: SLOUGH
1.7M N JCT STH 25 TO N, Buffalo, WI
Built 1933 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 2,100
STH 35
PoorOver: SLOUGH
2.0M N JCT STH 25 TO N, Buffalo, WI
Built 1933 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 2,100
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.