County profile · official public datasets

Waupaca County, WI

169 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 76.3% rated Good, 20.7% Fair, 3% Poor.

169
Public bridges: 76.3%
Good condition: 3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Waupaca County posts a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 10%
lowest Poor share in state: 3%
Poor-condition share: 169
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Waupaca County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Waupaca County ranks #7 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3%). Waupaca County, Wisconsin contains 169 public highway bridges. Roughly 76.3% are rated “Good,” 20.7% “Fair,” and 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

169

Public highway bridges in Waupaca County

Good condition

76.3%

129 of 169 rated 7-9

Fair condition

20.7%

35 of 169 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5 of 169 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#7 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 169 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

76.3% (129)

Fair

20.7% (35)

Poor

3% (5)

Waupaca County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,194 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,839 crossings a day against 2,473 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 169 of 169 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

32% of Waupaca County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

54 of the 169 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 76.3% 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 72.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

USH 10 WB over STH 49S - STH 54W, built 1965, carries 10,350 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 14,194 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1900s

2
1910s

1
1920s

3
1930s

2
1940s

7
1950s

11
1960s

17
1970s

12
1980s

14
1990s

45
2000s

33
2010s

16
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 45 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Waupaca County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Waupaca County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Taylor County	176	58.5%	30.1%	11.4%	1988
Juneau County	172	49.4%	47.7%	2.9%	1981
Waupaca County (this page)	169	76.3%	20.7%	3%	1984
Washington County	162	46.9%	44.4%	8.6%	1984
Shawano County	160	42.5%	48.1%	9.4%	1976
Lincoln County	157	49%	44.6%	6.4%	1982

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (169 bridges here).

Pike County, AL · 169 bridges
Laurens County, GA · 169 bridges
Cumberland County, IL · 169 bridges
Union County, IA · 169 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 169 Good 129 Fair 35 Poor 5

Fair-condition bridges (35)

Sort:

Waupaca County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Waupaca County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,194 vehicle crossings a day

32% of Waupaca County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 72.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Waupaca 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 (35)

LRD QUARTER LINE R

LRD LITTLE WOLF RI

CTH E

STH 54

LRD CTH OO

CTH K

USH 10-STH 49-STH

STH 156

USH 10 WB

CTH E (STATE ST)

USH STH110-MAIN ST

STH 22

USH 45-STH 22

USH 45

USH 10

USH 10 STH 22/49/5

USH10-STH22/49/54

USH10-STH22/49/54

USH10-STH49-STH54

USH 10 EB

CTH K

STH 22-STH 110

USH10-STH49/54 EB

STH 110

USH 10 EB

CTH A

STH 49-HARRISON ST

USH 45

USH 10 E.B.

STH 161

USH 10 EB

CTH C (MAIN ST)

STH 161

USH 10 WB

CTH II

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