County profile · official public datasets

Jackson County, WI

218 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.2% rated Good, 55% Fair, 7.8% Poor.

218
Public bridges: 37.2%
Good condition: 7.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Jackson County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

47th
of 72 on Poor share: 7.8%
Poor-condition share: 218
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Jackson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jackson County ranks #47 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.8%). Jackson County, Wisconsin contains 218 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.2% are rated “Good,” 55% “Fair,” and 7.8% “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

218

Public highway bridges in Jackson County

Good condition

37.2%

81 of 218 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55%

120 of 218 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.8%

17 of 218 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#47 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 218 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

37.2% (81)

Fair

55% (120)

Poor

7.8% (17)

Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,068 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,063 crossings a day against 1,974 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 218 of 218 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.5% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

110 of the 218 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 37.2% 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 67.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IH 94 WB over UNION PACIFIC RR, built 1968, carries 12,200 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 18,068 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

7
1930s

25
1940s

11
1950s

9
1960s

50
1970s

12
1980s

24
1990s

41
2000s

19
2010s

8
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 50 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1975, 9 years older than the Wisconsin average of 1984.

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Jackson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is 9 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jackson County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jackson County (this page)	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	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 Jackson 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 Jackson County, both outside Wisconsin so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (218 bridges here).

Okaloosa County, FL · 218 bridges
Yellow Medicine County, MN · 218 bridges
Fillmore County, NE · 218 bridges
Newberry County, SC · 218 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 218 Good 81 Fair 120 Poor 17

All bridges (218)

Sort:

Jackson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,068 vehicle crossings a day

50.5% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 67.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jackson 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 (218)

LRD MCNULTY RD (DE

LRD OLD HWY 54

LRD HAUGEN RD

LRD GILROY RD

LRD S POLE GROVE R

STH 54

CTH G

LRD CASTLE MOUND R

STH 54

USH 12-STH 27

LRD S CEMETERY RD

LRD NORTH RD

LRD OLD HWY 54

LRD GILBERTSON RD

IH 94 EB

IH 94 WB

CTH N

CTH H

CTH FF

IH 94 WB

IH 94 WB

CTH X

CTH V

LRD S FRENCH CREEK

LRD 8TH ST

LRD CURRAN RD (DEA

LRD BECK RD

LRD FEES RD

LRD SWEDE TOWN RD

LRD LASSE RD (DEAD

LRD TRUMP COULEE R

LRD SKUTLEY RD

LRD W JACKSON RD

CTH P

LRD RIVER RD

CTH D

CTH G

LRD CHURCH ROAD

LRD TRUMP COULEE R

LRD MARSH ROAD

LRD ALMA CENTER RD

CTH D

LRD SQUAW CREEK RD

CTH H

IH 94 EB

IH 94 WB

USH 12 WB-STH 27 N

USH 12 EB-STH 27 S

IH 94 EB

IH 94 WB

Related