County profile · official public datasets

Monroe County, WI

374 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.5% rated Good, 46% Fair, 3.5% Poor.

374
Public bridges
50.5%
Good condition
3.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Monroe County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 17%
lowest Poor share in state
3.5%
Poor-condition share
374
public highway bridges
1981
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.

Monroe County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Monroe County ranks #12 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.5%). Monroe County, Wisconsin contains 374 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.5% are rated “Good,” 46% “Fair,” and 3.5% “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

374

Public highway bridges in Monroe County

Good condition

50.5%

189 of 374 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46%

172 of 374 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.5%

13 of 374 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#12 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 374 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
50.5% (189)
Fair
46% (172)
Poor
3.5% (13)

Monroe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 19,681 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,514 crossings a day against 3,276 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 374 of 374 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39% of Monroe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

146 of the 374 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 50.5% 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 66.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IH 94 EB over RAMP IH 90EB-IH 94WB, built 1963, carries 13,150 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 19,681 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Monroe County's bridges were built

374 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 72 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

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

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Monroe County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.5% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Monroe County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Grant County 383 4.4%
Monroe County (this page) 374 3.5%
Waukesha County 369 6.5%
Chippewa County 359 9.2%
Vernon County 333 7.5%
Barron County 319 5.6%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (374 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1981 here).

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

All 374 Good 189 Fair 172 Poor 13

All bridges (374)

STH 27

Good

Over: LA CROSSE RIVER

0.5M N JCT IH 90 TO W, Monroe, WI

Built 1953 Load: 50.2 t ADT: 10,400

RANGE 2 SERVICE TR

Good

Over: TRIB. TO LA CROSSE RIVER

MIL GRID 833786, Monroe, WI

Built 2010 Load: 51.2 t ADT: 10

RANGE 2 SERVICE TR

Good

Over: SUUKJAK SEP CREEK

MIL GRID 833786, Monroe, WI

Built 2010 Load: 51.8 t ADT: 10

LRD LIVINGSTON RD

Good

Over: BR KICKAPOO RIVER

0.2M S JCT STH 71, Monroe, WI

Built 2004 Load: 53.5 t ADT: 63

IH 94 EB

Good

Over: KREYER CREEK

3.8M E JCT USH 12 TO E, Monroe, WI

Built 1963 Load: 63.2 t ADT: 13,150

RANGE 29 ACCESS RD

Good

Over: SUUKJAK SEP CREEK

0.08 MI JCT BIVOUAC RD, Monroe, WI

Built 2021 Load: 63.2 t ADT: 10

MIL RESERVATION RD

Good

Over: RANCH CREEK TRIBUTARY

MIL GRID 833894, Monroe, WI

Built 2006 Load: 68.4 t ADT: 200

IH RAMP IH 94 EB-I

Good

Over: KREYER CREEK

AT JCT IH 94-IH 90, Monroe, WI

Built 1963 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 2,300

USH 12

Good

Over: TRIB TO MILL CR

1.35 MI E JCT CTH E, Monroe, WI

Built 2011 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 1,100

SOUTH J STREET

Good

Over: TARR CREEK

So. J St. over Tarr Creek, Monroe, WI

Built 1987 Load: 89.7 t ADT: 2,000

LRD KIEV AVE (DEAD

Good

Over: KICKAPOO RIVER

0.2M W JCT STH 131, Monroe, WI

Built 1925 Load: 95.6 t ADT: 23

CTH Z

Poor

Over: BILLINGS CREEK

2.8M S JCT CTH P TO E, Monroe, WI

Built 1978 Load: 14.6 t ADT: 54

TRNG/LOGGING TRAIL

Poor

Over: SILVER CREEK

TRNG AREA B4-MGRS 840686, Monroe, WI

Built 1999 Load: 16.8 t ADT: 2

LRD NORDALE AVE

Poor

Over: KICKAPOO RIVER

0.3M E JCT STH 131, Monroe, WI

Built 1929 Load: 17.8 t ADT: 470

LRD FAIRMONT AVE (

Poor

Over: BIG CREEK

2.5M N JCT CTH B, Monroe, WI

Built 1960 Load: 19.4 t ADT: 20

CTH T

Poor

Over: MORRIS CREEK

0.7M S JCT STH 71, Monroe, WI

Built 1963 Load: 21.1 t ADT: 630

LRD INTERIOR RD

Poor

Over: LEMONWEIR CREEK

2.6M S JCT STH 16, Monroe, WI

Built 1928 Load: 21.1 t ADT: 58

SOUTH 10TH AVE

Poor

Over: TARR CREEK

S. 10 St. over Tarr Creek, Monroe, WI

Built 1985 Load: 21.4 t ADT: 2,000

CTH G

Poor

Over: BR MILL CREEK

2.5M E JCT CTH E, Monroe, WI

Built 1963 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 185

CTH N

Poor

Over: LITTLE LEMONWEIR RIVER

1.4M S JCT CTH A, Monroe, WI

Built 1940 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 250

CTH Z

Poor

Over: POE CREEK

1.4M E JCT STH 131, Monroe, WI

Built 1937 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 239

LRD MARKET RD

Poor

Over: LITTLE LA CROSSE RIVER

0.7M S JCT STH 27, Monroe, WI

Built 1978 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 23

IH 94 EB

Poor

Over: RAMP IH 90EB-IH 94WB

4.1M E JCT USH 12 TO E, Monroe, WI

Built 1963 Load: 34.0 t ADT: 13,150

STH 71-S RAILROAD

Poor

Over: DAVIS CREEK

3.3M E JCT CTH V, Monroe, WI

Built 1932 Load: 51.8 t ADT: 2,600

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.