County profile · official public datasets

Forest County, WI

53 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.8% rated Good, 34% Fair, 13.2% Poor.

53
Public bridges
52.8%
Good condition
13.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

68th
of 72 on Poor share
13.2%
Poor-condition share
53
public highway bridges
1984
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.

Forest County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Forest County ranks #68 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 13.2%). Forest County, Wisconsin contains 53 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.8% are rated “Good,” 34% “Fair,” and 13.2% “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

53

Public highway bridges in Forest County

Good condition

52.8%

28 of 53 rated 7-9

Fair condition

34%

18 of 53 rated 5-6

Poor condition

13.2%

7 of 53 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#68 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 53 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
52.8% (28)
Fair
34% (18)
Poor
13.2% (7)

Forest County's Poor-condition bridges carry 418 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 70 crossings a day against 571 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 52 of 53 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

26.4% of Forest County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

14 of the 53 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 52.8% 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 43.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STH 55 over N BR PESHTIGO RIVER, built 1962, carries 180 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 418 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Forest County's bridges were built

53 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 11 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Forest County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 13.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1985 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Forest County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Pepin County 57 7%
Waushara County 53 5.7%
Forest County (this page) 53 13.2%
Washburn County 49 0%
Green Lake County 48 2.1%
Iron County 48 8.3%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (53 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1984 here).

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

All 53 Good 28 Fair 18 Poor 7

Good-condition bridges (28)

CTH O

Good

Over: PESHTIGO RIVER

2.3M W JCT STH 139, Forest, WI

Built 1976 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 60

FR 2169

Good

Over: PINE RIVER

7.3 MI S OF JCT STH 70, Forest, WI

Built 1982 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 50

FR 2167

Good

Over: POPPLE RIVER

5.4 MI W OF JCT STH 139, Forest, WI

Built 1982 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 50

STH IRR (STH 55)

Good

Over: SWAMP CREEK

1.1M N JCT CTH M, Forest, WI

Built 1977 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,100

USH 8

Good

Over: RAT RIVER

0.2M E JCT STH 32 TO S, Forest, WI

Built 1987 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,000

STH 32

Good

Over: MID BR PESHTIGO R

1500 N CTH N, Forest, WI

Built 2022 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,800

LRD PESHTIGO RIVER

Good

Over: W BR PESHTIGO RIVER

0.6M S CTH G, Forest, WI

Built 1998 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 20

STH 32

Good

Over: TORPEE CREEK

3.6 MILES SOUTH STH 52, Forest, WI

Built 2011 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 3,000

LRD OLD HWY. 139

Good

Over: POPPLE RIVER

1.0M W JCT STH 139, Forest, WI

Built 2001 Load: 34.0 t ADT: 60

STH 32-STH 55-LAKE

Good

Over: WISCONSIN CENTRAL RR

0.5M N JCT USH 8 TO W, Forest, WI

Built 1992 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 1,800

LRD COLE RD

Good

Over: WOLF RIVER

0.3M S JCT USH 8, Forest, WI

Built 2019 Load: 36.0 t ADT: 160

LRD OLD HWY 8

Good

Over: WOLF RIVER

3.1M W JCT CTH S, Forest, WI

Built 2012 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 258

LRD OLD HWY 139 RD

Good

Over: LITTLE POPPLE RIVER

0.4M N JCT STH 139, Forest, WI

Built 2019 Load: 36.6 t ADT: 60

CTH G

Good

Over: S BRANCH PESHTIGO RIVER

3.6M E JCT STH 32, Forest, WI

Built 2019 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 770

FR2131

Good

Over: ROCK CREEK

0.4mi W of 2134 on FR2131, Forest, WI

Built 2021 Load: 37.9 t ADT: 50

USH 8

Good

Over: PESHTIGO RIVER

0.8M E JCT CTH G, Forest, WI

Built 1984 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 2,100

LRD FAIRVIEW RD

Good

Over: NORTH BR OCONTO RIVER

0.3M N JCT STH 32, Forest, WI

Built 1995 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 101

STH 55

Good

Over: POPPLE RIVER

11.0M N JCT STH 32 TO N, Forest, WI

Built 2001 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 160

STH 55

Good

Over: JONES CREEK

15.2M N JCT STH 32 TO N, Forest, WI

Built 2001 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 160

FR 2186

Good

Over: WOLF RIVER

2.0 MI W OF JCT CTH S, Forest, WI

Built 2006 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 80

FR 3847

Good

Over: OTTER CREEK

1 mi N of CTY C on FR3847, Forest, WI

Built 2019 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 10

LRD OLD 101

Good

Over: ARMSTRONG CREEK

1.2M S JCT USH 8, Forest, WI

Built 2007 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 233

STH 55

Good

Over: BRULE RIVER

5.8M N JCT STH 70, Forest, WI

Built 2003 Load: 48.6 t ADT: 500

FR 2174

Good

Over: PINE RIVER

5.9 MI W OF JCT STH 55, Forest, WI

Built 1984 Load: 50.5 t ADT: 50

LRD GOODMAN PARK R

Good

Over: PESHTIGO RIVER

6.8M N JCT CTH C, Forest, WI

Built 2007 Load: 51.8 t ADT: 111

FR 2193 Fishel Rd

Good

Over: BRULE CREEK

0.6mi N of HWY 70 on 2193, Forest, WI

Built 2003 Load: 59.9 t ADT: 100

FR2182

Good

Over: PINE RIVER

5.8 MI W OF JCT STH 55, Forest, WI

Built 2009 Load: 62.2 t ADT: 50

FR2593 Perenick Rd

Good

Over: LITTLE POPPLE RIVER

.4mi W of HWY 139 on 2593, Forest, WI

Built 2006 Load: 80.4 t ADT: 100

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.