County profile · official public datasets

Fond du Lac County, WI

251 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 53% rated Good, 36.7% Fair, 10.4% Poor.

251
Public bridges: 53%
Good condition: 10.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

61st
of 72 on Poor share: 10.4%
Poor-condition share: 251
public highway bridges: 1986
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.

Fond du Lac County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fond du Lac County ranks #61 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.4%). Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin contains 251 public highway bridges. Roughly 53% are rated “Good,” 36.7% “Fair,” and 10.4% “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

251

Public highway bridges in Fond du Lac County

Good condition

53%

133 of 251 rated 7-9

Fair condition

36.7%

92 of 251 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.4%

26 of 251 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#61 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 251 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

53% (133)

Fair

36.7% (92)

Poor

10.4% (26)

Fond du Lac County's Poor-condition bridges carry 34,561 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,329 crossings a day against 4,324 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 251 of 251 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

29.5% of Fond du Lac County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

74 of the 251 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 53% 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 11.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

LRD WESTERN AVE over E BR FOND DU LAC RIVER, built 1973, carries 4,000 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 26-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 34,561 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

15
1930s

8
1940s

2
1950s

13
1960s

22
1970s

21
1980s

28
1990s

36
2000s

76
2010s

16
2020s

13

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 76 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 30.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1986) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

How Fond du Lac County compares with Wisconsin's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Fond du Lac County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.4% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Fond du Lac County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Trempealeau County	260	47.3%	41.2%	11.5%	1987
Fond du Lac County (this page)	251	53%	36.7%	10.4%	1986
La Crosse County	249	41%	53%	6%	1983
Pierce County	248	64.5%	31.9%	3.6%	1984
Dunn County	245	45.7%	45.3%	9%	1982
Green County	244	45.5%	45.9%	8.6%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (251 bridges here).

Greene County, AR · 251 bridges
Lake County, IL · 251 bridges
Hopkins County, KY · 251 bridges
Wayne County, NE · 251 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1986 here).

El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges

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

All 251 Good 133 Fair 92 Poor 26

All bridges (251)

Sort:

Fond du Lac County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Fond du Lac County's Poor-condition bridges carry 34,561 vehicle crossings a day

29.5% of Fond du Lac County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 11.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fond du Lac 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 (251)

STH 67-E MAIN ST

LRD FOREST AVE

IH 41 SB

LRD CTH RP

STH 23

STH 23-STH 49

CTH B

LRD WEST STREET

LRD UNION ST/OSHKO

LRD LONE ELM ROAD

STH 26

STH 44

STH USH 151 NB OFF

USH 151 NB

USH 151 SB

CTH WH

LRD DUCHARME PARKW

LRD MARTIN RD

CTH VV

STH 23 EB & WB

LRD W 12TH ST

LRD CTH RP

CTH G

CTH G

USH 41 NB

STH 26

CTH D NB

STH 23 WB

STH 23 EB

LRD W ARNDT STREET

LRD GROVE ST

LRD DOTY STREET

LRD LAKE MARIA RD

LRD OAK CENTER RD

LRD HICKORY ROAD

STH 23 WB

LRD OLDEN RD

DRUMLIN ROAD

USH 151 SB

USH 151 NB

CTH Y CAMPBELL R

LRD LOST ARROW RD

LRD NEITMAN RD

USH 45

STH 49

LRD LINCOLN ROAD

LRD DOUGLAS ST

LRD W ROCK RIVER R

CTH C

USH 45

Related