County profile · official public datasets

Vernon County, WI

333 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.1% rated Good, 48.3% Fair, 7.5% Poor.

333
Public bridges: 44.1%
Good condition: 7.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

45th
of 72 on Poor share: 7.5%
Poor-condition share: 333
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Vernon County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Vernon County ranks #45 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.5%). Vernon County, Wisconsin contains 333 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.1% are rated “Good,” 48.3% “Fair,” and 7.5% “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

333

Public highway bridges in Vernon County

Good condition

44.1%

147 of 333 rated 7-9

Fair condition

48.3%

161 of 333 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.5%

25 of 333 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#45 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 333 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.1% (147)

Fair

48.3% (161)

Poor

7.5% (25)

Vernon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,015 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 241 crossings a day against 468 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 333 of 333 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

29.4% of Vernon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

98 of the 333 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 44.1% 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 18.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STH 162 over COON CREEK, built 1969, carries 1,100 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 25-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,015 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1920s

8
1930s

16
1940s

15
1950s

21
1960s

28
1970s

23
1980s

58
1990s

62
2000s

61
2010s

26
2020s

14

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 62 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Vernon County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.5% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 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 Vernon County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Chippewa County	359	34.8%	56%	9.2%	1985
Vernon County (this page)	333	44.1%	48.3%	7.5%	1983
Barron County	319	48.6%	45.8%	5.6%	1978
Rock County	304	61.2%	35.2%	3.6%	1994
Richland County	298	54%	41.9%	4%	1986
St. Croix County	298	68.1%	28.9%	3%	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 Vernon 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 Vernon County, both outside Wisconsin so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (333 bridges here).

Goodhue County, MN · 333 bridges
Passaic County, NJ · 333 bridges
Boone County, MO · 334 bridges
Dodge County, NE · 334 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 333 Good 147 Fair 161 Poor 25

Fair-condition bridges (161)

Sort:

Vernon County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Vernon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,015 vehicle crossings a day

29.4% of Vernon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 18.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Vernon 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 (161)

LRD HAYDEN RD

STH 131-COMMERCIAL

STH 33

CTH O

STH 162-MAIN ST

LRD GIBSON VALLEY

STH 162

CTH P

CTH Y

LRD DOWNING RD (DE

CTH EE

CTH M

CTH P

LRD NORWEGIAN VALL

STH 131

LRD S BADAXE RD

STH 131

LRD SPRING COULEE

LRD THOMPSON RD (D

CTH K MAIN ST

LRD GREEN ACRES RD

CTH NN

LRD SMART HOLLOW R

CTH S

CTH P

CTH Q

LRD SHAKER RD

CTH W

STH 82

STH 82-MAIN ST

STH 35

CTH B

CTH B

LRD TAINTER HOLLOW

CTH N

CTH FF E MADISON

LRD E MILL ST

CTH P

CTH S

LRD HOFF LANE (DEA

LRD EAST RIDGE RD

STH 162

CTH K

STH 162-MILL ST

USH 14-USH 61

LRD SPRING COULEE

LRD DODSON HOLLOW

LRD CHARLES ST

CTH KK

CTH P

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