County profile · official public datasets

Vilas County, WI

29 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.2% rated Good, 34.5% Fair, 10.3% Poor.

29
Public bridges
55.2%
Good condition
10.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

60th
of 72 on Poor share
10.3%
Poor-condition share
29
public highway bridges
1988
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.

Vilas County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Vilas County ranks #60 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.3%). Vilas County, Wisconsin contains 29 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.2% are rated “Good,” 34.5% “Fair,” and 10.3% “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

29

Public highway bridges in Vilas County

Good condition

55.2%

16 of 29 rated 7-9

Fair condition

34.5%

10 of 29 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.3%

3 of 29 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#60 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 29 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
55.2% (16)
Fair
34.5% (10)
Poor
10.3% (3)

Vilas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,865 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 622 crossings a day against 2,954 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 29 of 29 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

20.7% of Vilas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

6 of the 29 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 55.2% 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 90.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CTH W over MANITOWISH RIVER, built 1982, carries 1,693 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,865 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Vilas County's bridges were built

29 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 6 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1988) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Vilas County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.3% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1988 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Vilas County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Green Lake County 48 2.1%
Adams County 41 2.4%
Door County 32 3.1%
Vilas County (this page) 29 10.3%
Menominee County 25 8%
Florence County 20 5%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (29 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1988 here).

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

All 29 Good 16 Fair 10 Poor 3

All bridges (29)

LRD IRR (INDIAN RO

Fair

Over: FLAMBEAU LAKE OUTLET

5.0M N JCT STH 70, Vilas, WI

Built 1935 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 253

CTH B

Fair

Over: HELEN CREEK

1.7M N JCT CTH Z, Vilas, WI

Built 1941 Load: 25.9 t ADT: 1,085

USH 51

Fair

Over: MANITOWISH RIVER

1.2M N JCT CTH W, Vilas, WI

Built 1956 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,400

LRD RANGE LINE RD

Fair

Over: DEERSKIN RIVER

2.3M N JCT STH 70, Vilas, WI

Built 1984 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,161

STH 70

Fair

Over: WISCONSIN RIVER 53

6.6M E JCT CTH O, Vilas, WI

Built 1993 Load: 34.0 t ADT: 5,700

USH 51

Fair

Over: SPIDER LAKE

5.0M N JCT CTH H, Vilas, WI

Built 1998 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 3,800

USH 45-STH 17-STH

Fair

Over: EAGLE RIVER

0.2M N JCT STH 70 TO W, Vilas, WI

Built 2000 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 14,000

LRD IRR (INDIAN VI

Fair

Over: BEAR RIVER

4.8M N JCT STH 70, Vilas, WI

Built 1979 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 60

STH 70

Fair

Over: LINK CREEK

2.6M E JCT USH 51, Vilas, WI

Built 1988 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 4,500

STH 70

Fair

Over: SAINT GERMAIN RIVER

0.8M E JCT CTH C, Vilas, WI

Built 1968 Load: 58.3 t ADT: 3,900

STH 70

Good

Over: CATFISH LAKE

2.4M E JCT USH 45 TO S, Vilas, WI

Built 1978 Load: 25.9 t ADT: 8,400

STH 17-STH 70

Good

Over: MUD CREEK

0.1M N JCT STH 70 TO W, Vilas, WI

Built 1981 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 9,500

STH 70

Good

Over: SQUAW CREEK

22.2M E JCT STH 13, Vilas, WI

Built 1980 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,100

USH 45

Good

Over: PIONEER CREEK

AT PIONEER CREEK, Vilas, WI

Built 2009 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,600

LRD CLEAR LAKE RD

Good

Over: CLEAR LAKE

1.0M S JCT CTH K, Vilas, WI

Built 1990 Load: 34.0 t ADT: 310

USH 51 NB

Good

Over: TROUT R

1.9M N CTH N, Vilas, WI

Built 2022 Load: 35.0 t ADT: 3,900

CTH G

Good

Over: WISCONSIN RIVER

0.3 MI W. OF JCT 45, Vilas, WI

Built 2004 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 2,180

LRD RUMMEL RD

Good

Over: WISCONSIN RIVER 57

1.2M W JCT USH 45, Vilas, WI

Built 2020 Load: 36.0 t ADT: 238

CTH N

Good

Over: PLUM CREEK

1.2M W JCT STH 155, Vilas, WI

Built 2022 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 1,624

CTH K

Good

Over: WISCONSIN RIVER

0.2M W JCT USH 45, Vilas, WI

Built 2021 Load: 37.9 t ADT: 1,561

USH 45-STH 32

Good

Over: WISCONSIN RIVER 57

0.9M N JCT CTH E, Vilas, WI

Built 1992 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 3,100

IRR BIA RTE 15

Good

Over: TROUT RIVER

2.3KM SE OF JCT CTH H, Vilas, WI

Built 2020 Load: 40.2 t ADT: 50

CTH M

Good

Over: MANITOWISH RIVER

0.6M N JCT CTH K, Vilas, WI

Built 1993 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 2,900

STH 47

Good

Over: POKEGAMA LAKE

POKEGAMA LAKE, Vilas, WI

Built 2003 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 2,300

CTH H

Good

Over: TROUT RIVER

2.6M S OF USH51, Vilas, WI

Built 1993 Load: 48.6 t ADT: 705

STH 47

Good

Over: MISHONAGON CREEK

AT MISHONAGON CREEK, Vilas, WI

Built 2008 Load: 50.2 t ADT: 4,800

LRD SUGARBUSH TRAI

Poor

Over: SUGARBUSH CREEK

1.1M E JCT 47, Vilas, WI

Built 1940 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 101

CTH W

Poor

Over: MANITOWISH RIVER

0.6M N JCT USH 51, Vilas, WI

Built 1982 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 1,693

LRD IRR (RIVER RD)

Poor

Over: BEAR RIVER

5.1M N JCT STH 70, Vilas, WI

Built 1958 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 71

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.