County profile · official public datasets

Trempealeau County, WI

260 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.3% rated Good, 41.2% Fair, 11.5% Poor.

260
Public bridges: 47.3%
Good condition: 11.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

64th
of 72 on Poor share: 11.5%
Poor-condition share: 260
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.

Trempealeau County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Trempealeau County ranks #64 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.5%). Trempealeau County, Wisconsin contains 260 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.3% are rated “Good,” 41.2% “Fair,” and 11.5% “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

260

Public highway bridges in Trempealeau County

Good condition

47.3%

123 of 260 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41.2%

107 of 260 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.5%

30 of 260 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#64 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 260 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

47.3% (123)

Fair

41.2% (107)

Poor

11.5% (30)

Trempealeau County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,038 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 301 crossings a day against 2,035 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 260 of 260 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

25% of Trempealeau County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

65 of the 260 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 47.3% 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 48.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

USH 10-USH 53-10TH over BUFFALO RIVER, built 1937, carries 4,400 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 30-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,038 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

8
1930s

9
1940s

7
1950s

13
1960s

21
1970s

20
1980s

45
1990s

47
2000s

44
2010s

25
2020s

20

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 47 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.1% 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 Trempealeau County compares with Wisconsin's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Trempealeau County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 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 Trempealeau County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Sauk County	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 (this page)	260	47.3%	41.2%	11.5%	1987
Fond du Lac County	251	53%	36.7%	10.4%	1986
La Crosse County	249	41%	53%	6%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (260 bridges here).

Shoshone County, ID · 260 bridges
Jefferson County, IL · 260 bridges
Mitchell County, KS · 260 bridges
Nash County, NC · 260 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 260 Good 123 Fair 107 Poor 30

Fair-condition bridges (107)

Sort:

Trempealeau County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Trempealeau County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,038 vehicle crossings a day

25% of Trempealeau County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 48.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Trempealeau 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 (107)

STH 95

STH 93

CTH X

CTH E

CTH XX

STH 35 - STH 54

LRD PRAIRIE RD EAS

LRD TRUMP COULEE R

LRD CROSS RD

CTH R

CTH J

USH 53-ERVIN ST

LRD CARPENTER ROAD

CTH T

USH 53-ETTRICK ST

USH 53-HARMONY ST

CTH D

USH 53-MAIN ST

CTH S

CTH U

CTH B

CTH H

STH 121

CTH D

LRD KITTELSON ROAD

STH 93

LRD PEPLINSKI RD (

CTH A

USH 10 EB

USH 53 NB

LRD FULLER COULEE

LRD RONGNLIEN RD (

CTH D

STH 93

LRD CRYSTAL VALLEY

LRD ALVESTAD RD

LRD GILBERT STREET

CTH NN MAIN ST

LRD JASZEWSKI LANE

LRD FULLER COULEE

LRD GARLICK RD

STH 54

STH 93

LRD TROUT RUN RD

LRD LINDEN RD

USH 53-STH 121

LRD BURLINGTON RD

USH 53

STH 95

STH 93

Related