Total bridges
333
Public highway bridges in Vernon County
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.
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.
When Vernon County's bridges were built
333 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 1
Built before 1900
1 bridges
- 1920s 8
1920–1929
8 bridges
- 1930s 16
1930–1939
16 bridges
- 1940s 15
1940–1949
15 bridges
- 1950s 21
1950–1959
21 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
28 bridges
- 1970s 23
1970–1979
23 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
58 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
62 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
61 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
26 bridges
- 2020s 14
2020–2029
14 bridges
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.
| 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.
Fair-condition bridges (161)
LRD ASBURY RD
FairOver: BISHOP CREEK
2.4M S JCT CTH Y, Vernon, WI
Built 1951 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 47
CTH NN
FairOver: BR S FK BAD AXE RIVER
1.8M E JCT CTH N, Vernon, WI
Built 2007 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 104
LRD SEBRANEK LN (D
FairOver: WEST BR BARABOO RIVER
0.3M W JCT STH 33, Vernon, WI
Built 1993 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 10
LRD N RIDGE RD
FairOver: N FK BAD AXE RIVER
1.2M N JCT STH 56, Vernon, WI
Built 1999 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 84
CTH P
FairOver: RULLAND COULEE CREEK
5.5M N JCT STH 27, Vernon, WI
Built 2002 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 353
LRD LARS HILL RD
FairOver: TIMBER COULEE CREEK
0.1M N JCT CTH P, Vernon, WI
Built 1981 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 11
LRD MAPLEDALE RD
FairOver: BISHOP BRANCH
1.9M N JCT STH 56, Vernon, WI
Built 1950 Load: 47.0 t ADT: 205
CTH D
FairOver: BR OTTER CREEK
1.7M N JCT STH 82, Vernon, WI
Built 1967 Load: 50.2 t ADT: 420
CTH B
FairOver: BR N FK BAD AXE RIVER
0.9M S JCT CTH KK, Vernon, WI
Built 1988 Load: 58.3 t ADT: 477
USH 14-USH 61
FairOver: RUNDAHL COULEE CREEK
1.1M E JCT CTH B, Vernon, WI
Built 1948 Load: 87.5 t ADT: 5,200
USH 14
FairOver: BR DAY CREEK
2.7M E JCT STH 131 TO N, Vernon, WI
Built 1948 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 1,900
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.