Total bridges
289
Public highway bridges in Butler County
County profile · official public datasets
Butler County, IA
289 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 58.1% rated Good, 26.6% Fair, 15.2% Poor.
- 289
- Public bridges
- 58.1%
- Good condition
- 15.2%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Butler County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 34%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 15.2%
- Poor-condition share
- 289
- public highway bridges
- 1985
- 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.
Butler County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Butler County ranks #34 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.2%). Butler County, Iowa contains 289 public highway bridges. Roughly 58.1% are rated “Good,” 26.6% “Fair,” and 15.2% “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.
Good condition
58.1%
168 of 289 rated 7-9
Fair condition
26.6%
77 of 289 rated 5-6
Poor condition
15.2%
44 of 289 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#34 of 99
Among Iowa counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 289 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 58.1% (168)
Fair 26.6% (77)
Poor 15.2% (44)
Butler County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,921 vehicle crossings a day
That is 9.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 248 crossings a day against 331 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 289 of 289 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
30.8% of Butler County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
89 of the 289 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 58.1% 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 17.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
TRAER ST over OVRFLW SHELL ROCK RIVER, built 1900, carries 1,902 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 44-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 10,921 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Butler County's bridges were built
289 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 17
1900–1909
17 bridges
- 1910s 4
1910–1919
4 bridges
- 1920s 5
1920–1929
5 bridges
- 1930s 2
1930–1939
2 bridges
- 1940s 5
1940–1949
5 bridges
- 1950s 18
1950–1959
18 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
29 bridges
- 1970s 18
1970–1979
18 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
26 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
38 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
64 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
46 bridges
- 2020s 17
2020–2029
17 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 64 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 6 years newer than the Iowa average of 1979.
How Butler County compares with Iowa's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Iowa counties nearest Butler County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.2% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 7 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 98 Iowa counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Story County | 296 | 33.1% | 53% | 13.9% | 1968 |
| Cass County | 295 | 25.4% | 41% | 33.6% | 1976 |
| Delaware County | 293 | 39.2% | 53.9% | 6.8% | 1981 |
| Scott County | 291 | 34.7% | 55% | 10.3% | 1980 |
| Grundy County | 289 | 42.6% | 32.9% | 24.6% | 1983 |
| Butler County (this page) | 289 | 58.1% | 26.6% | 15.2% | 1985 |
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 Butler 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 Butler County, both outside Iowa so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside IA (289 bridges here).
- Union County, AR · 289 bridges
- McKinley County, NM · 289 bridges
- Knox County, IN · 290 bridges
- Putnam County, IN · 290 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1985 here).
- Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
- Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
- Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
- Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (77)
C13
FairOver: SMALL
093161201, Butler, IA
Built 1983 Load: 31.8 t ADT: 727
FM
FairOver: DRAINAGE
090151102, Butler, IA
Built 1900 Load: 32.2 t ADT: 79
LOCAL
FairOver: SMALL STREAM
091160502, Butler, IA
Built 1900 Load: 32.5 t ADT: 26
TRAER ST
FairOver: SHELLROCK RIVER
093170103, Butler, IA
Built 1981 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,931
CHERRY ST
FairOver: SHELL ROCK RIVER
091151100, Butler, IA
Built 1915 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 3,435
FM
FairOver: STREAM
091182101, Butler, IA
Built 1993 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 44
IA 188
FairOver: STREAM
1.9 mi. N of jct. SR C33, Butler, IA
Built 1962 Load: 33.5 t ADT: 1,020
IA 14
FairOver: W FK CEDAR RIVER
4.9 MI. S OF JCT. IA 3, Butler, IA
Built 1984 Load: 33.6 t ADT: 1,160
LOCAL
FairOver: SMALL STREAM
090181801, Butler, IA
Built 1941 Load: 33.7 t ADT: 26
IA 3
FairOver: HARTGRAVES CRK OVERFLOW
0.5 MI. W OF SR T16, Butler, IA
Built 1957 Load: 33.9 t ADT: 1,420
IA 14
FairOver: DRAINAGE DITCH
1.4 MI. S OF S JCT. IA 3, Butler, IA
Built 1946 Load: 34.1 t ADT: 1,160
IA 14
FairOver: W FK CEDAR RIVER
0.3 mi. N of jct. SR C51, Butler, IA
Built 1984 Load: 34.7 t ADT: 1,160
IA 57
FairOver: DRAINAGE DITCH
4.8 mi. E of Jct. IA 14, Butler, IA
Built 1971 Load: 36.1 t ADT: 2,220
IA 14
FairOver: IA NR RR
1.1 Mi. N of S.R. C13, Butler, IA
Built 1936 Load: 36.6 t ADT: 1,500
LOCAL
FairOver: PARMENTAR CREEK
093182701, Butler, IA
Built 1987 Load: 37.6 t ADT: 35
LOCAL
FairOver: WEST FORK CEDAR RIVER
091180106, Butler, IA
Built 1962 Load: 37.7 t ADT: 47
IA 57
FairOver: BEAVER CREEK
1.3 MI. E. OF Jct. SR T53, Butler, IA
Built 1928 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 2,220
LOCAL
FairOver: KILSONS CREEK
090171502, Butler, IA
Built 1987 Load: 40.6 t ADT: 73
IA 14
FairOver: BEAVER CREEK
0.2 mi. N of N jct. IA57, Butler, IA
Built 1984 Load: 45.5 t ADT: 1,760
IA 57
FairOver: DRAINAGE DITCH
3.7 MI. W OF SR T-55, Butler, IA
Built 1929 Load: 48.0 t ADT: 2,220
FM
FairOver: BEAVER CREEK
090172008, Butler, IA
Built 1979 Load: 48.4 t ADT: 679
IVY AVE.
FairOver: COLDWATER CREEK
093170902, Butler, IA
Built 1977 Load: 49.2 t ADT: 62
FLOYD LINE ST
FairOver: STREAM
093160301, Butler, IA
Built 1983 Load: 50.2 t ADT: 15
IA 14
FairOver: STREAM
1.0 Mi. N of S.R. C23, Butler, IA
Built 1994 Load: 51.2 t ADT: 1,740
FM
FairOver: OVERFLOW-BEAVER CK
090162702, Butler, IA
Built 1994 Load: 52.9 t ADT: 960
IA 3
FairOver: HARTGRAVES CREEK
0.8 mi. W of W Jct SR T16, Butler, IA
Built 1984 Load: 53.2 t ADT: 1,420
LOCAL
FairOver: SMALL
090161801, Butler, IA
Built 1979 Load: 62.8 t ADT: 31
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.