County profile · official public datasets

Sauk County, WI

271 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 53.9% rated Good, 37.3% Fair, 8.9% Poor.

271
Public bridges: 53.9%
Good condition: 8.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

54th
of 72 on Poor share: 8.9%
Poor-condition share: 271
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.

Sauk County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sauk County ranks #54 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.9%). Sauk County, Wisconsin contains 271 public highway bridges. Roughly 53.9% are rated “Good,” 37.3% “Fair,” and 8.9% “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

271

Public highway bridges in Sauk County

Good condition

53.9%

146 of 271 rated 7-9

Fair condition

37.3%

101 of 271 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.9%

24 of 271 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#54 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 271 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

53.9% (146)

Fair

37.3% (101)

Poor

8.9% (24)

Sauk County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,116 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 338 crossings a day against 2,831 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 271 of 271 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

31.4% of Sauk County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

85 of the 271 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 53.9% 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 18.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CTH B MAIN ST over BR HONEY CREEK, built 1969, carries 1,500 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 24-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,116 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1910s

1
1920s

5
1930s

12
1940s

8
1950s

14
1960s

33
1970s

23
1980s

38
1990s

48
2000s

46
2010s

37
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 48 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.7% 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 Sauk County compares with Wisconsin's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Sauk County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.9% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1986 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sauk County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Outagamie County	290	49.7%	46.2%	4.1%	1982
Sauk County (this page)	271	53.9%	37.3%	8.9%	1984
Manitowoc County	269	44.6%	51.7%	3.7%	1983
Winnebago County	263	66.9%	29.7%	3.4%	1992
Trempealeau County	260	47.3%	41.2%	11.5%	1987
Fond du Lac County	251	53%	36.7%	10.4%	1986

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (271 bridges here).

Morgan County, AL · 271 bridges
Yolo County, CA · 271 bridges
Yazoo County, MS · 271 bridges
Hall County, NE · 271 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 271 Good 146 Fair 101 Poor 24

All bridges (271)

Sort:

Sauk County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sauk County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,116 vehicle crossings a day

31.4% of Sauk County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 18.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sauk 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

All bridges (271)

LRD VILLAGE RD (DE

LRD KOHLMEYER RD

LRD OPEN VIEW RD

LRD VAN HOOSEN RD

CTH T

LRD GILLEM RD

CTH Y

LRD STOUT RD

LRD S DEWEY RD

LRD HATCHERY RD

LRD ELM RD

LRD TROUT RD

LRD XANADU RD

LRD BOOT JACK RD

CTH P

CTH A

LRD PRESTON AVE

LRD WESTBROOK DR

LRD CROAL RD

LRD CROAL RD

LRD MARBLE QUARRY

CTH C

CTH G

LRD SUNRISE RD

LRD GILDING RD (DE

CTH E

CTH H

LRD WALNUT ST/MUSE

STH 154

IH 90 WB-IH 94 WB

STH 78-STH 113

LRD HIGHLOW RD

STH 58-CENTER ST

STH 58

LRD MILL RD

STH 136-BROADWAY S

STH 58

CTH N

LRD BRANTON RD

CTH H

LRD VOSEN LANE (DE

LRD ADAMS ST

LRD DANE HILL RD

STH 136

STH 60

LRD NORTH AVE

LRD 2ND AVE

STH 154

STH 60

IH 90 EB-IH 94 EB

Related