County profile · official public datasets

Waushara County, WI

53 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.2% rated Good, 47.2% Fair, 5.7% Poor.

53
Public bridges: 47.2%
Good condition: 5.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 44%
lowest Poor share in state: 5.7%
Poor-condition share: 53
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Waushara County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Waushara County ranks #32 of 72 Wisconsin counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.7%). Waushara County, Wisconsin contains 53 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.2% are rated “Good,” 47.2% “Fair,” and 5.7% “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

Public highway bridges in Waushara County

Good condition

47.2%

25 of 53 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.2%

25 of 53 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.7%

3 of 53 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#32 of 72

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

Condition distribution

Share of 53 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

47.2% (25)

Fair

47.2% (25)

Poor

5.7% (3)

Waushara County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,219 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,073 crossings a day against 1,438 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 53 of 53 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

32.1% of Waushara County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

17 of the 53 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 47.2% 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 59% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CTH E over LITTLE SILVER CREEK, built 1936, carries 1,899 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 3,219 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

1
1940s

2
1950s

5
1960s

7
1970s

2
1980s

20
1990s

5
2000s

2
2010s

7
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 37.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Wisconsin average (1984).

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

The 5 Wisconsin counties nearest Waushara County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 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 Waushara County and the 5 Wisconsin counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pepin County	57	68.4%	24.6%	7%	1985
Forest County	53	52.8%	34%	13.2%	1984
Waushara County (this page)	53	47.2%	47.2%	5.7%	1982
Washburn County	49	51%	49%	0%	1990
Green Lake County	48	50%	47.9%	2.1%	1983
Iron County	48	56.3%	35.4%	8.3%	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 Waushara 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 Waushara County, both outside Wisconsin so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside WI (53 bridges here).

Cleburne County, AR · 53 bridges
Citrus County, FL · 53 bridges
Lumpkin County, GA · 53 bridges
Stewart County, GA · 53 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside WI (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges
Broward County, FL · avg 1982 · 686 bridges

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

All 53 Good 25 Fair 25 Poor 3

All bridges (53)

Sort:

Waushara County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Waushara County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,219 vehicle crossings a day

32.1% of Waushara County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 59% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Waushara 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

All bridges (53)

CTH C

CTH O

LRD ARCHER AVE

LRD 29TH DR

CTH H

CTH X

CTH A

CTH H

LRD APACHE RD

LRD CZECK RD

CTH K

CTH V

IH USH 51-IH 39 NB

IH USH 51-IH 39 SB

IH USH51-IH39 SB

IH USH 51-IH 39 SB

IH USH51-IH39NB

IH USH51-IH39 NB

STH 49

LRD ELM STREET

LRD COTTONVILLE RD

IH USH51-IH39 SB

IH USH 51-IH 39 NB

LRD BLACK HAWK RD

STH 21

LRD COVERED BRIDGE

CTH YY

LRD 28TH RD

STH 49

LRD DAKOTA AVE.

STH 21

LRD 30TH AVE.

LRD 28TH COURT

CTH ICTH I

CTH XX

LRD 29TH LANE

CTH E

CTH S

STH 49

STH 22

STH 49

LRD BROWN DEER AVE

LRD PINE RIVER ST

LRD CZECH COURT

LRD CHICAGO AVENUE

CTH W

STH 49

STH 22

STH 21

STH 49

Related