County profile · official public datasets

Cedar County, IA

301 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.9% rated Good, 37.5% Fair, 19.6% Poor.

301
Public bridges: 42.9%
Good condition: 19.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cedar County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

53rd
of 99 on Poor share: 19.6%
Poor-condition share: 301
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Cedar County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cedar County ranks #53 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 19.6%). Cedar County, Iowa contains 301 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.9% are rated “Good,” 37.5% “Fair,” and 19.6% “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

301

Public highway bridges in Cedar County

Good condition

42.9%

129 of 301 rated 7-9

Fair condition

37.5%

113 of 301 rated 5-6

Poor condition

19.6%

59 of 301 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#53 of 99

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

Condition distribution

Share of 301 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.9% (129)

Fair

37.5% (113)

Poor

19.6% (59)

Cedar County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,298 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 19.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 208 crossings a day against 784 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 301 of 301 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

33.2% of Cedar County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

100 of the 301 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 42.9% 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 15.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FM over CEDAR RIVER, built 1966, carries 1,860 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 59-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 12,298 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

3
1910s

6
1920s

7
1930s

9
1940s

11
1950s

29
1960s

25
1970s

38
1980s

16
1990s

44
2000s

61
2010s

40
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 61 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Iowa average (1979).

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

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Cedar County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 19.6% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cedar County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Adair County	306	46.7%	39.9%	13.4%	1983
Marshall County	304	32.9%	23.7%	43.4%	1970
Chickasaw County	302	42.1%	30.1%	27.8%	1986
Crawford County	301	42.5%	48.5%	9%	1982
Cedar County (this page)	301	42.9%	37.5%	19.6%	1983
Story County	296	33.1%	53%	13.9%	1968

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (301 bridges here).

Madison County, IN · 301 bridges
Penobscot County, ME · 301 bridges
Harrison County, MS · 301 bridges
Adair County, MO · 301 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 301 Good 129 Fair 113 Poor 59

All bridges (301)

Sort:

Cedar County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cedar County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,298 vehicle crossings a day

33.2% of Cedar County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 15.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cedar 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

All bridges (301)

160TH ST

FM

FM

FM Y-14

FM

LOCAL

IA 38

FM

PINE AVE

LOCAL

PLUM AVE

VERMONT AVE

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

FM

320TH ST

FM

FM

BUCKEYE RD

CHARLES AVE

IA 38

LOCAL

FM

200TH

BUCKEYE RD

US 30

LOCAL

SPICER AVE

230TH ST

205TH ST

HARDING AVE

230TH ST

PARKSIDE DRIVE

SECOND STREET

ADAMS AVE

LOCAL

110TH ST

LOCAL

I-80

MONROE AVE.

EB I-80

FM

FM

270TH ST

300TH ST

110TH STREET

HARDING AVE

ADAMS AVE

FM

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