County profile · official public datasets

Lafayette County, WI

217 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 53.5% rated Good, 38.2% Fair, 8.3% Poor.

217
Public bridges: 53.5%
Good condition: 8.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lafayette 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.

49th
of 72 on Poor share: 8.3%
Poor-condition share: 217
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Lafayette County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lafayette County ranks #49 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.3%). Lafayette County, Wisconsin contains 217 public highway bridges. Roughly 53.5% are rated “Good,” 38.2% “Fair,” and 8.3% “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

217

Public highway bridges in Lafayette County

Good condition

53.5%

116 of 217 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.2%

83 of 217 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.3%

18 of 217 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#49 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 217 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

53.5% (116)

Fair

38.2% (83)

Poor

8.3% (18)

Lafayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,324 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 296 crossings a day against 793 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 217 of 217 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41% of Lafayette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

89 of the 217 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 53.5% 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 41.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STH 11 over BR SHULLSBURG BRANCH, built 1947, carries 2,200 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,324 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

5
1930s

16
1940s

13
1950s

20
1960s

24
1970s

20
1980s

31
1990s

36
2000s

33
2010s

14
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 36 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1978, 6 years older than the Wisconsin average of 1984.

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Lafayette County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.3% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is 5 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lafayette 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 (this page)	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 Lafayette 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 Lafayette County, both outside Wisconsin so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (217 bridges here).

Sullivan County, IN · 217 bridges
Harrison County, IA · 217 bridges
Marion County, IA · 217 bridges
Ringgold County, IA · 217 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 217 Good 116 Fair 83 Poor 18

All bridges (217)

Sort:

Lafayette County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lafayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,324 vehicle crossings a day

41% of Lafayette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 41.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lafayette 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 (217)

LRD AMES BRANCH RD

LRD WILDCAT ROAD

CTH K

USH 151 NB

STH 23

LRD CENTER DR

LRD SUNNYDALE RD

USH STH 126 - N MO

CTH W

CTH W

LRD MILLER LANE

LRD STATE LINE RD

LRD DRYBONE RD

STH 81

LRD ST. ROSE ROAD

LRD JOHNSON RD

USH 151

LRD BUNCOMBE RD

LRD FRITZGES RD

CTH Y

LRD STATE LINE RD

LRD CENTER DR RD

LRD S GALENA RD

STH 78

STH 11-BRIDGE ST

STH 11

LRD ENGLISH HOLLOW

LRD WOOD RD

CTH U

LRD AMES ROAD

LRD SARGENT RD

CTH M

CTH W

LRD ENCH RD

STH 23

LRD W MOUND RD

LRD FORT DEFIANCE

LRD FRITZGES ROAD

LRD COTTAGE INN RD

USH 151 SB

LRD KENNEDY RD

STH 11

CTH I

CTH D

LRD STATE LINE ROA

LRD GANT RD

LRD S GALENA RD NB

LRD BETHEL GROVE R

CTH O

CTH O SEYMOUR RD

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