County profile · official public datasets

Dodge County, WI

212 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.1% rated Good, 47.6% Fair, 4.2% Poor.

212
Public bridges: 48.1%
Good condition: 4.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 31%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.2%
Poor-condition share: 212
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Dodge County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dodge County ranks #22 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.2%). Dodge County, Wisconsin contains 212 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.1% are rated “Good,” 47.6% “Fair,” and 4.2% “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

212

Public highway bridges in Dodge County

Good condition

48.1%

102 of 212 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.6%

101 of 212 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.2%

9 of 212 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#22 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 212 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.1% (102)

Fair

47.6% (101)

Poor

4.2% (9)

Dodge County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,140 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 460 crossings a day against 2,717 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 212 of 212 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

36.3% of Dodge County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

77 of the 212 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 48.1% 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 21.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CTH N over BUTLER CREEK, built 1949, 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,140 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

5
1940s

5
1950s

20
1960s

27
1970s

34
1980s

23
1990s

40
2000s

17
2010s

31
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Dodge County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Dodge 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 (this page)	212	48.1%	47.6%	4.2%	1983
Crawford County	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 Dodge 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 Dodge County, both outside Wisconsin so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (212 bridges here).

Holmes County, MS · 212 bridges
Clinton County, PA · 212 bridges
Comanche County, TX · 212 bridges
Bonneville County, ID · 213 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 212 Good 102 Fair 101 Poor 9

All bridges (212)

Sort:

Dodge County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Dodge County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,140 vehicle crossings a day

36.3% of Dodge County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 21.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Dodge 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 (212)

LRD SHAWHILL RD

LRD WELL RD

LRD SECOND STREET

CTH EE

LRD ST HELENA RD

CTH J

LRD SALEM RD

CTH I

CTH MM

CTH J

LRD PERCH RD

CTH G

LRD INDUSTRIAL DR

STH 28-STH 67-MAIN

LRD WEST FOX RD

LRD ZIONS CHURCH R

LRD FREEDOM RD

LRD GERMAN ST

CTH M CENTER STR

LRD CENTER RD

CTH A

CTH I

LRD BURR OAK RD

LRD MARKET ST

CTH T

CTH TT

STH 49-MAIN ST

STH 175-MILWAUKEE

LRD W IOWA RD

LRD ROOSEVELT RD

LRD SILVER CREEK R

CTH C

CTH H

CTH AY

CTH K

CTH KW

CTH KW

CTH EE

CTH C

CTH R

LRD DAVIDSON RD

LRD HIGHVIEW RD

CTH G

STH 16-STH 60

CTH O

LRD CENTER DR

LRD DOYLE RD

LRD BRIDGE ST

USH 151 SB

USH 151 NB

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