County profile · official public datasets

Crawford County, WI

211 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.4% rated Good, 38.4% Fair, 5.2% Poor.

211
Public bridges: 56.4%
Good condition: 5.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 38%
lowest Poor share in state: 5.2%
Poor-condition share: 211
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.

Crawford County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Crawford County ranks #27 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.2%). Crawford County, Wisconsin contains 211 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.4% are rated “Good,” 38.4% “Fair,” and 5.2% “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

211

Public highway bridges in Crawford County

Good condition

56.4%

119 of 211 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.4%

81 of 211 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.2%

11 of 211 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#27 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 211 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

56.4% (119)

Fair

38.4% (81)

Poor

5.2% (11)

Crawford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,965 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,451 crossings a day against 680 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 211 of 211 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

22.3% of Crawford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

47 of the 211 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 56.4% 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 32.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STH 35 over CAMPBELL COULEE, built 1938, carries 5,200 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 15,965 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

3
1920s

3
1930s

9
1940s

6
1950s

14
1960s

8
1970s

9
1980s

28
1990s

57
2000s

42
2010s

24
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 57 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1987) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Crawford County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.2% Poor share is the 3rd-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 Crawford County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jackson County	218	37.2%	55%	7.8%	1975
Lafayette County	217	53.5%	38.2%	8.3%	1978
Dodge County	212	48.1%	47.6%	4.2%	1983
Crawford County (this page)	211	56.4%	38.4%	5.2%	1987
Iowa County	209	67.5%	26.8%	5.7%	1989
Walworth County	206	34.5%	61.7%	3.9%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (211 bridges here).

Colusa County, CA · 211 bridges
Charlotte County, FL · 211 bridges
Kemper County, MS · 211 bridges
Pike County, MS · 211 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 211 Good 119 Fair 81 Poor 11

All bridges (211)

Sort:

Crawford County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Crawford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,965 vehicle crossings a day

22.3% of Crawford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 32.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Crawford 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 (211)

CTH H

LRD DRAKE RD

LRD FREEMAN RD

LRD SHAW HOLLOW RD

LRD PANSY LANE (DE

LRD BUSH HOLLOW RD

LRD DEVITT DRIVE (

CTH B

CTH S

CTH C

LRD DUTCH RIDGE RO

LRD BIEDERMAN HILL

STH 60

LRD MAYBEE RD (DEA

LRD HOUND DOG LANE

LRD BROWN RIDGE RD

CTH C

LRD PLUM CREEK RD

LRD BYERS ROAD

CTH B

CTH C

LRD SIME RIDGE RD

LRD SOUTH BUCK CRE

USH 61

LRD GRAHAM HOLLOW

LRD NORWAY DR. (DE

STH 131

LRD BENHARDT RIDGE

CTH W

LRD TILLER ROAD (D

LRD NORWEGIAN HOLL

LRD WEST POINT RD

LRD GRAN GRAE RD

LRD NORWEGIAN HOLL

LRD CABELA DRIVE (

STH 60

LRD STONEY POINT R

LRD SAND HILL ROAD

LRD SUNNY RIDGE RO

LRD GRAHAM HOLLOW

LRD RUSH CREEK RD

LRD SPRING VALLEY

USH 18/STH 35/STH

STH 171

LRD MARIETTA VALLE

LRD NORWEGIAN HOLL

LRD GERSTNER LANE

STH 131-CHURCH ST

STH 131-PINE ST

LRD SAND CREEK RD

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