County profile · official public datasets

Bremer County, IA

266 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 51.9% rated Good, 36.1% Fair, 12% Poor.

266
Public bridges: 51.9%
Good condition: 12%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Bremer County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 25%
lowest Poor share in state: 12%
Poor-condition share: 266
public highway bridges: 1990
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.

Bremer County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bremer County ranks #25 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12%). Bremer County, Iowa contains 266 public highway bridges. Roughly 51.9% are rated “Good,” 36.1% “Fair,” and 12% “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

266

Public highway bridges in Bremer County

Good condition

51.9%

138 of 266 rated 7-9

Fair condition

36.1%

96 of 266 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12%

32 of 266 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#25 of 99

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

Condition distribution

Share of 266 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

51.9% (138)

Fair

36.1% (96)

Poor

12% (32)

Bremer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,898 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 278 crossings a day against 1,306 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 266 of 266 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

24.1% of Bremer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

64 of the 266 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 51.9% 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 13.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

190TH ST over QUARTER SECTION RUN, built 1948, carries 1,188 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 32-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,898 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

2
1920s

5
1930s

3
1940s

4
1950s

20
1960s

23
1970s

23
1980s

8
1990s

60
2000s

57
2010s

51
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 60 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1990, 11 years newer than the Iowa average of 1979.

How Bremer County compares with Iowa's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Bremer County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1990 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 12 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 98 Iowa counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bremer County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Lyon County	276	38.8%	38.4%	22.8%	1974
Kossuth County	267	44.6%	39%	16.5%	1987
Cerro Gordo County	266	44%	51.1%	4.9%	1975
Bremer County (this page)	266	51.9%	36.1%	12%	1990
O'Brien County	264	51.9%	43.2%	4.9%	1976
Guthrie County	263	24%	39.2%	36.9%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (266 bridges here).

Lauderdale County, AL · 266 bridges
Wayne County, IL · 266 bridges
Republic County, KS · 266 bridges
Copiah County, MS · 266 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1990 here).

Maricopa County, AZ · avg 1990 · 2,847 bridges
Tarrant County, TX · avg 1990 · 2,617 bridges
Fairfax County, VA · avg 1990 · 751 bridges
Guilford County, NC · avg 1990 · 736 bridges

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

All 266 Good 138 Fair 96 Poor 32

Good-condition bridges (138)

Sort:

Bremer County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bremer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,898 vehicle crossings a day

24.1% of Bremer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 13.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bremer County compares with Iowa's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Good-condition bridges (138)

270TH ST

LOCAL

BUTLER RD

VIKING AVE

VIKING AV

LOCAL

BISHOP AV

180TH ST

212TH ST

120TH ST

PIEDMONT AVE

EASTON AV

GARDEN AVE

GARDEN AVE

WAPSIE ST

5TH AVE NW

US 218

IA 3

4TH AVE SW

2ND ST SW

3RD AVE SW

5TH AVE SW

1ST AVE NW

130TH ST

150TH ST

3RD AVE NW

5TH AVE NE

MIDWAY AVE

180TH ST

CEDAR RIVER PKWY

200TH ST

MIDWAY AVE

170TH ST

GRAND AVE

130TH ST

IA 188

OAKLAND AVE

IA 93

US 218 NB

US 218 SB

LOCAL

EAST MARQUIS RD

160TH ST

BISHOP RD

210TH ST

C26 170TH ST

MIDWAY AVE

USHER AVE

110TH ST

120TH ST

Related