County profile · official public datasets

Cerro Gordo County, IA

266 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44% rated Good, 51.1% Fair, 4.9% Poor.

266
Public bridges: 44%
Good condition: 4.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cerro Gordo County posts a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 4%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.9%
Poor-condition share: 266
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Cerro Gordo County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cerro Gordo County ranks #4 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.9%). Cerro Gordo County, Iowa contains 266 public highway bridges. Roughly 44% are rated “Good,” 51.1% “Fair,” and 4.9% “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 Cerro Gordo County

Good condition

44%

117 of 266 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.1%

136 of 266 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.9%

13 of 266 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#4 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

44% (117)

Fair

51.1% (136)

Poor

4.9% (13)

Cerro Gordo County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,435 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 264 crossings a day against 1,790 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.

55.3% of Cerro Gordo County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

147 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 44% 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 62% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

12TH ST NE over CREEK, built 1920, carries 2,128 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,435 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

4
1910s

8
1920s

10
1930s

9
1940s

7
1950s

23
1960s

29
1970s

70
1980s

26
1990s

28
2000s

19
2010s

24
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 70 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Iowa average (1979).

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

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Cerro Gordo County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.9% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cerro Gordo 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
Bremer County	266	51.9%	36.1%	12%	1990
Cerro Gordo County (this page)	266	44%	51.1%	4.9%	1975
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 Cerro Gordo 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 Cerro Gordo 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 (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 266 Good 117 Fair 136 Poor 13

Good-condition bridges (117)

Sort:

Cerro Gordo County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cerro Gordo County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,435 vehicle crossings a day

55.3% of Cerro Gordo County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 62% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cerro Gordo 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 (117)

ULMUS

4TH ST NE

155TH

140TH

320TH ST

278TH

MALLARD

US 18 EB

160TH

140TH

NETTLE AVE

ULMUS

190TH

YARROW

NETTLE

FM

120TH

LARK

PHEASANT

ULMUS

NETTLE

IA 122

S PENN AVE

SR B-43

120TH

BALSAM

NB US 65

I 35 SB

IA 122

NETTLE

PHEASANT

320TH

SB I-35

US 65

US 65

US 65

US 65

285TH ST

12TH AVE S

WILLOWBROOK DR

140TH ST

MALLARD AVE

JONQUIL

140TH ST

190TH

INDIGO

340TH

295TH

LARK

DOVE

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