County profile · official public datasets

Oconto County, WI

149 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.7% rated Good, 40.9% Fair, 3.4% Poor.

149
Public bridges: 55.7%
Good condition: 3.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 14%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.4%
Poor-condition share: 149
public highway bridges: 1986
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.

Oconto County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Oconto County ranks #10 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.4%). Oconto County, Wisconsin contains 149 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.7% are rated “Good,” 40.9% “Fair,” and 3.4% “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

149

Public highway bridges in Oconto County

Good condition

55.7%

83 of 149 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40.9%

61 of 149 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.4%

5 of 149 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#10 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 149 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

55.7% (83)

Fair

40.9% (61)

Poor

3.4% (5)

Oconto County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,051 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 210 crossings a day against 2,150 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 149 of 149 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

25.5% of Oconto County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

38 of the 149 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 55.7% 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 55.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CTH V over OCONTO RIVER, built 1979, carries 580 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,051 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

6
1930s

3
1940s

2
1950s

5
1960s

11
1970s

19
1980s

20
1990s

31
2000s

40
2010s

10
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1986) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Oconto County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.4% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 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 Oconto County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Washington County	162	46.9%	44.4%	8.6%	1984
Shawano County	160	42.5%	48.1%	9.4%	1976
Lincoln County	157	49%	44.6%	6.4%	1982
Rusk County	151	49.7%	44.4%	6%	1989
Oconto County (this page)	149	55.7%	40.9%	3.4%	1986
Douglas County	135	51.1%	36.3%	12.6%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (149 bridges here).

Tallapoosa County, AL · 149 bridges
Drew County, AR · 149 bridges
Madison County, AR · 149 bridges
Walker County, GA · 149 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1986 here).

El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges

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

All 149 Good 83 Fair 61 Poor 5

Good-condition bridges (83)

Sort:

Oconto County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Oconto County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,051 vehicle crossings a day

25.5% of Oconto County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 55.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Oconto 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 (83)

LRD FOREST ROAD 21

LRD BELGIAN RD

FR 2070

CTH S

LRD JAWORSKI RD

STH 32

FR 2630

LRD SCHWARTZ RD

STH 32

LRD TRAIL ROAD

STH 32

LRD STILES RD

STH 32-MAIN ST

CTH T

CTH A

CTH J

LRD EAST MAIN ST

CTH S

LRD HAYES RD

STH 32

USH 41 SB-USH 141

STH 64

CTH AA

STH 32

STH 32-STH 64

LRD NICOLET RD

CTH W

LRD S CHASE RD

USH 141 NB

USH 141 SB

LRD BAY SHORE RD

LRD SLEETER RD

FR 2104

LRD DALY CREEK RD

LRD TECHMEIER LANE

LRD GEANO BEACH RO

LRD OLD HWY 41

CTH E

USH 141 NB

USH 141 SB

LRD SUNSHINE RD

CTH A

LRD RIVER RD

CTH S

CTH J

USH 41 NB-USH 141

USH 141 NB

USH 141 SB

STH 22

CTH H

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