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Daviess County bridge inspection recommends replacement of seven county bridges
Summary
A 2025 summer bridge inspection presented to the Daviess County Commissioners found 34% of the county's 126 bridges in good condition, 64% fair and 2% poor, and recommended replacing seven bridges over time, citing inspection-costs for certain railroad flat car structures.
Daviess County received a countywide bridge inspection update April 14 that recommended phased replacement of seven bridges considered no longer cost-effective to maintain.
Ronald Reos, Bridge Inspection Department Manager with SJCA, told the county commissioners that Daviess County has 126 bridges, including 37 concrete channel beam bridges and 10 railroad flat car bridges. He said 34 percent of bridges are in good condition, 64 percent are fair and about 2 percent are in poor condition. Reos recommended replacing seven bridges over time — five of them railroad flat car bridges and two concrete box beam bridges — rather than attempting simultaneous large-scale replacements.
Reos also advised the board that Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) now requires 12-month inspections on certain bridge types, including some flat car structures, which increases inspection costs. “While the County could still use [railroad flat car] bridges,” Reos said in his presentation summary, “they aren’t cost effective due to the 12-month inspection that INDOT now requires.” He noted the county already has 11 bridges that require those annual inspections.
Commissioners did not take a specific funding vote on replacements at this meeting; Reos framed the recommendation as a prioritized list for future planning. The board received the report as part of the Highway Department presentation and did not schedule immediate construction for the listed bridges.
Next steps identified in the presentation included developing a phased replacement plan and aligning future capital requests with anticipated inspection and maintenance costs. The county did not specify timelines or funding sources for any particular bridge replacements in the meeting record.
