County profile · official public datasets

Pierce County, WI

248 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 64.5% rated Good, 31.9% Fair, 3.6% Poor.

248
Public bridges: 64.5%
Good condition: 3.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 19%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.6%
Poor-condition share: 248
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Pierce County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pierce County ranks #14 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.6%). Pierce County, Wisconsin contains 248 public highway bridges. Roughly 64.5% are rated “Good,” 31.9% “Fair,” and 3.6% “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

248

Public highway bridges in Pierce County

Good condition

64.5%

160 of 248 rated 7-9

Fair condition

31.9%

79 of 248 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.6%

9 of 248 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#14 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 248 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

64.5% (160)

Fair

31.9% (79)

Poor

3.6% (9)

Pierce County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,832 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 648 crossings a day against 926 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 248 of 248 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

22.2% of Pierce County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

55 of the 248 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 64.5% 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 44.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STH 35 over BIG RIVER, built 1970, carries 2,600 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,832 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

3
1920s

4
1930s

7
1940s

8
1950s

14
1960s

13
1970s

19
1980s

57
1990s

70
2000s

38
2010s

9
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 70 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Pierce County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.6% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Pierce County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Fond du Lac County	251	53%	36.7%	10.4%	1986
La Crosse County	249	41%	53%	6%	1983
Pierce County (this page)	248	64.5%	31.9%	3.6%	1984
Dunn County	245	45.7%	45.3%	9%	1982
Green County	244	45.5%	45.9%	8.6%	1978
Sheboygan County	240	39.2%	55.4%	5.4%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (248 bridges here).

Crawford County, AR · 248 bridges
Cherokee County, IA · 248 bridges
Poweshiek County, IA · 248 bridges
Lowndes County, MS · 248 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 248 Good 160 Fair 79 Poor 9

Good-condition bridges (160)

Sort:

Pierce County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pierce County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,832 vehicle crossings a day

22.2% of Pierce County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 44.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pierce 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 (160)

STH 29-STH 35

CTH U MAIN ST

CTH U

CTH C

CTH A

CTH HH

LRD 385TH ST

LRD 870TH ST

LRD 330TH ST

LRD 465TH AVE

CTH G

LRD 170TH ST

LRD 620TH ST

CTH W

LRD 790TH ST

LRD 150TH ST

LRD 560TH AVE.

LRD 810TH ST

STH 72-WINTER AVE

LRD WAGON TRAIL RD

STH 35

CTH C

LRD 620TH ST

LRD 490TH AVE

LRD 290TH AVE

LRD 690TH ST

LRD 950TH ST

LRD 530TH ST

USH 10-USH 63

STH 35

STH 35-STATE RD

STH 65

CTH EE

STH 35

CTH EE

LRD 870TH AVE

STH 29 EASTBOUND

LRD 510TH ST

CTH K

LRD 650TH AVE

LRD 570TH AVENUE

CTH J

CTH E

LRD GREEN WOOD VAL

CTH C

STH 29

LRD 570TH AVE

LRD 1000TH ST

CTH QQ

LRD 855TH AVE (DEA

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