County profile · official public datasets

Shawano County, WI

160 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.5% rated Good, 48.1% Fair, 9.4% Poor.

160
Public bridges: 42.5%
Good condition: 9.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Shawano County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

57th
of 72 on Poor share: 9.4%
Poor-condition share: 160
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Shawano County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Shawano County ranks #57 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.4%). Shawano County, Wisconsin contains 160 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.5% are rated “Good,” 48.1% “Fair,” and 9.4% “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

160

Public highway bridges in Shawano County

Good condition

42.5%

68 of 160 rated 7-9

Fair condition

48.1%

77 of 160 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.4%

15 of 160 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#57 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 160 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.5% (68)

Fair

48.1% (77)

Poor

9.4% (15)

Shawano County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,654 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 310 crossings a day against 3,593 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 160 of 160 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

37.5% of Shawano County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

60 of the 160 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 42.5% 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 32.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CTH Q over M BR EMBARRASS RIVER, built 1940, 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,654 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

5
1920s

13
1930s

7
1940s

15
1950s

7
1960s

12
1970s

8
1980s

20
1990s

48
2000s

11
2010s

10
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 30% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1976, 8 years older than the Wisconsin average of 1984.

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Shawano County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1985 is 9 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Shawano County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Waupaca County	169	76.3%	20.7%	3%	1984
Washington County	162	46.9%	44.4%	8.6%	1984
Shawano County (this page)	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	149	55.7%	40.9%	3.4%	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 Shawano 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 Shawano County, both outside Wisconsin so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (160 bridges here).

Clay County, KY · 160 bridges
Kittson County, MN · 160 bridges
Rio Arriba County, NM · 160 bridges
Delaware County, OK · 160 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 160 Good 68 Fair 77 Poor 15

Fair-condition bridges (77)

Sort:

Shawano County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Shawano County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,654 vehicle crossings a day

37.5% of Shawano County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 32.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Shawano 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

Fair-condition bridges (77)

CTH J

LRD SPRUCE RD (DEA

LRD ELM RD

IRR BIA RTE 24

LRD N BRANCH RD

LRD WAHL RD

CTH J BEECH ST

LRD TOWN LINE RD

LRD CARDINAL LANE

CTH BB

CTH CCC

CTH D

LRD MAPLE AVE

CTH M LIEG AVE

CTH J

CTH F

CTH K

CTH OO

CTH D

CTH M

LRD RIVER VIEW RD

IRR BIA RTE 21

CTH C

CTH G

CTH C

CTH M

CTH N

CTH C

LRD RED RIVER RD

LRD ELAND RD

LRD ORIOLE RD

LRD LOWER LAKE RD

LRD MILL CREEK RD

LRD WEST LULL AVE

CTH D 4TH ST

LRD PARK AVE

LRD WHITE BIRCH RD

CTH P

LRD BIG LAKE RD

LRD E RED RIVER RD

LRD MAPLE RD

LRD RANGE LINE RD

CTH M

LRD NIGHTINGALE RD

LRD SHAWANO AVE

LRD WEASEL DAM RD

LRD N LENZ ROAD

CTH G

LRD ROMBERG RD

CTH A

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