County profile · official public datasets

Milwaukee County, WI

893 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.2% rated Good, 51.7% Fair, 5% Poor.

893
Public bridges: 43.2%
Good condition: 5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 36%
lowest Poor share in state: 5%
Poor-condition share: 893
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.

Milwaukee County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Milwaukee County ranks #26 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5%). Milwaukee County, Wisconsin contains 893 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.2% are rated “Good,” 51.7% “Fair,” and 5% “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

893

Public highway bridges in Milwaukee County

Good condition

43.2%

386 of 893 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.7%

462 of 893 rated 5-6

Poor condition

45 of 893 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#26 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 893 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43.2% (386)

Fair

51.7% (462)

Poor

5% (45)

Milwaukee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 619,194 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 13,760 crossings a day against 20,479 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 893 of 893 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.5% of Milwaukee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

415 of the 893 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 43.2% 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 12.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IH 94 WB-E-W FREEW over LRD MITCHELL BLVD, built 1959, carries 79,000 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 45-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 619,194 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

1
1920s

29
1930s

26
1940s

4
1950s

66
1960s

229
1970s

111
1980s

56
1990s

75
2000s

137
2010s

136
2020s

22

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 229 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Milwaukee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 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 Milwaukee County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Milwaukee County (this page)	893	43.2%	51.7%	5%	1982
Dane County	590	51.2%	42.4%	6.4%	1987
Marathon County	530	46.4%	43.4%	10.2%	1982
Brown County	466	51.3%	44.8%	3.9%	1990
Grant County	383	66.1%	29.5%	4.4%	1984
Monroe County	374	50.5%	46%	3.5%	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 Milwaukee 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 Milwaukee County, both outside Wisconsin so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (893 bridges here).

Orange County, FL · 885 bridges
Erie County, NY · 906 bridges
St. Louis County, MO · 912 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · 871 bridges

Similar average build year

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

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges
Broward County, FL · avg 1982 · 686 bridges

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

All 893 Good 386 Fair 462 Poor 45

Good-condition bridges (386)

Sort:

Milwaukee County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Milwaukee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 619,194 vehicle crossings a day

46.5% of Milwaukee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 12.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Milwaukee 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

Good-condition bridges (386)

IH N-E RAMP IH 43

LRD TORY HILL-MICH

LRD N RIVER RD

IH 41SB/IH 94 EB

IH RAMP IH 41/USH

IH 794 WB-LAKE FRE

IH 794 EB-LAKE FRE

LRD N HUMBOLDT AVE

LRD MILWAUKEE RIVE

IH 43 SB

LRD N 45TH ST (DEA

LRD W MORGAN AVE

STH 175 NB

LRD SOUTH WHITNALL

IH 794 WB-LAKE FRE

LRD E. HOWARD AVE.

STH 794

LRD S 116TH ST

LRD 29TH STREET

IH E-S RAMP IH 94

LRD WEST CALUMET R

CTH EE W HAMPTON

LRD S 1ST ST

LRD WB W OKLAHOMA

LRD W EB OKLAHOMA

IH RAMP IH 94 WB

LRD WHITNALL PARK

LRD WHITNALL PARK

LRD N SHERMAN BLVD

IH RAMP E-N I794WB

LRD S 35TH ST

STH 38-CHASE AVE

STH 794

STH 175

IH RAMP STH 100 -

LRD E ST FRANCIS A

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