County profile · official public datasets

Sawyer County, WI

97 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.3% rated Good, 43.3% Fair, 12.4% Poor.

97
Public bridges: 44.3%
Good condition: 12.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

66th
of 72 on Poor share: 12.4%
Poor-condition share: 97
public highway bridges: 1987
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.

Sawyer County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sawyer County ranks #66 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.4%). Sawyer County, Wisconsin contains 97 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.3% are rated “Good,” 43.3% “Fair,” and 12.4% “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

Public highway bridges in Sawyer County

Good condition

44.3%

43 of 97 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.3%

42 of 97 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.4%

12 of 97 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#66 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 97 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.3% (43)

Fair

43.3% (42)

Poor

12.4% (12)

Sawyer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 19,469 vehicle crossings a day

That is 28.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,622 crossings a day against 477 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 97 of 97 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

26.8% of Sawyer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

26 of the 97 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 44.3% 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 69.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STH 27 over NAMEKAGON RIVER, built 1996, carries 13,500 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 19,469 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

3
1940s

3
1950s

5
1960s

6
1970s

12
1980s

12
1990s

26
2000s

17
2010s

10
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 26 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 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1987) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Sawyer County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sawyer County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Kenosha County	109	67%	29.4%	3.7%	1997
Ozaukee County	105	35.2%	61.9%	2.9%	1982
Price County	104	53.8%	35.6%	10.6%	1982
Bayfield County	103	56.3%	38.8%	4.9%	1990
Sawyer County (this page)	97	44.3%	43.3%	12.4%	1987
Kewaunee County	93	47.3%	47.3%	5.4%	1988

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (97 bridges here).

Forsyth County, GA · 97 bridges
Elmore County, ID · 97 bridges
Mason County, KY · 97 bridges
Swift County, MN · 97 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1987 here).

St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
St. Louis County, MN · avg 1987 · 663 bridges
Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges

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

All 97 Good 43 Fair 42 Poor 12

All bridges (97)

Sort:

Sawyer County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sawyer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 19,469 vehicle crossings a day

26.8% of Sawyer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 69.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sawyer 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 (97)

FR174

FR177

STH 27

LRD BLAISDELL RD

STH 70

LRD KNOWLES RD

FR1666

CTH B

LRD CEDAR AVE.

LRD IRR (RIGHT-OF-

STH 77

CTH W

LRD HOSPITAL RD

CTH C

CTH B

STH 77

CTH M

CTH W

LRD SOUTH CLOVER R

LRD DANTZMAN RD

STH 48

LRD BLOMBERG RD

CTH C

CTH G

STH 27/70-GETTYSBU

STH IRR (STH 27-ST

CTH W

LRD WEIRGOR RD

CTH B

CTH IRR (CTH K)

CTH W

STH 77

LRD LARSEN RD

LRD HOFFER RD

LRD PETERSON RD

LRD CHIEF RIVER RD

LRD SWARTZ ST

CTH B

LRD POLISH ROAD

FR172

LRD DAM RD

FR173

STH 48

LRD FISHTRAP RD

STH 27

CTH M

CTH T

CTH S

LRD TAG ALDER ROAD

LRD HANSON RD (DEA

Related