County profile · official public datasets

Lincoln County, WI

157 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 49% rated Good, 44.6% Fair, 6.4% Poor.

157
Public bridges
49%
Good condition
6.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

40th
of 72 on Poor share
6.4%
Poor-condition share
157
public highway bridges
1982
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.

Lincoln County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lincoln County ranks #40 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.4%). Lincoln County, Wisconsin contains 157 public highway bridges. Roughly 49% are rated “Good,” 44.6% “Fair,” and 6.4% “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

157

Public highway bridges in Lincoln County

Good condition

49%

77 of 157 rated 7-9

Fair condition

44.6%

70 of 157 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.4%

10 of 157 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#40 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 157 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
49% (77)
Fair
44.6% (70)
Poor
6.4% (10)

Lincoln County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,570 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,057 crossings a day against 1,709 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 157 of 157 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

31.8% of Lincoln County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

50 of the 157 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 49% 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 58.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STH 64-STH 107-W M over WISCONSIN RIVER 39, built 1927, carries 6,200 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 10,570 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Lincoln County's bridges were built

157 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 38 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

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

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Lincoln County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.4% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lincoln County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Waupaca County 169 3%
Washington County 162 8.6%
Shawano County 160 9.4%
Lincoln County (this page) 157 6.4%
Rusk County 151 6%
Oconto County 149 3.4%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (157 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1982 here).

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

All 157 Good 77 Fair 70 Poor 10

Fair-condition bridges (70)

LRD TOWN HALL RD

Fair

Over: BIG HAY MEADOW CREEK

0.8M S JCT CTH J, Lincoln, WI

Built 1983 Load: 34.0 t ADT: 143

STH 4TH STREET

Fair

Over: WISCONSIN RIVER 42

0.2M N JCT STH 86 TO E, Lincoln, WI

Built 2011 Load: 34.7 t ADT: 15,223

USH 51 NB

Fair

Over: WISCONSIN RIVER 35

0.7M N JCT CTH Q, Lincoln, WI

Built 1974 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 8,700

USH 51 SB

Fair

Over: WISCONSIN RIVER 36

2.7M S JCT STH 64 TO E, Lincoln, WI

Built 1974 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 8,200

CTH G

Fair

Over: USH 51

1.6M E JCT USH B51, Lincoln, WI

Built 1975 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 2,700

CTH K

Fair

Over: PRAIRIE RIVER

0.1M N JCT CTH G, Lincoln, WI

Built 1998 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 5,123

CTH H

Fair

Over: BIG PINE CREEK

0.1M N JCT CTH D, Lincoln, WI

Built 1990 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 319

CTH K-CENTER AVE

Fair

Over: WISCONSIN RIVER 37

0.1M S JCT STH 64, Lincoln, WI

Built 1996 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 6,900

CTH J

Fair

Over: BIG HAY MEADOW CREEK

0.5M E JCT CTH X, Lincoln, WI

Built 1958 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 450

CTH A

Fair

Over: WISCONSIN RIVER 44

3.0M E JCT USH 51, Lincoln, WI

Built 1980 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 1,737

CTH E

Fair

Over: COPPER RIVER

1.9M N JCT STH 64, Lincoln, WI

Built 1986 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 805

CTH E

Fair

Over: NEW WOOD RIVER

4.3M N JCT CTH M, Lincoln, WI

Built 1989 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 93

LRD SPIRIT FALLS A

Fair

Over: SQUAW CREEK

0.1M S JCT STH 86, Lincoln, WI

Built 1994 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 46

LRD HIGHLAND AVE

Fair

Over: DEVILS CREEK

0.5M W JCT STH 107, Lincoln, WI

Built 1994 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 24

CTH E

Fair

Over: S BR NEW WOOD RIVER

2.5M N JCT CTH M, Lincoln, WI

Built 1973 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 107

LRD POPE RD

Fair

Over: USH 51

0.4M E JCT USH B51, Lincoln, WI

Built 1975 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 580

CTH CC

Fair

Over: TOMAHAWK RIVER

2.8M S JCT USH 8, Lincoln, WI

Built 1985 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 2,096

USH 51 SB

Fair

Over: PRAIRIE RIVER

2.2M S JCT CTH C, Lincoln, WI

Built 1975 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 7,350

LRD TOWN HALL RD (

Fair

Over: KIPPENBERG CREEK

2.2M N JCT STH 17, Lincoln, WI

Built 1995 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 25

CTH O

Fair

Over: ARMSTRONG CREEK

2.4M S JCT STH 86, Lincoln, WI

Built 1937 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 424

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

Related

Browse all → | Rankings →
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.