County profile · official public datasets

Chickasaw County, IA

302 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.1% rated Good, 30.1% Fair, 27.8% Poor.

302
Public bridges
42.1%
Good condition
27.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Chickasaw County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

75th
of 99 on Poor share
27.8%
Poor-condition share
302
public highway bridges
1986
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.

Chickasaw County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Chickasaw County ranks #75 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 27.8%). Chickasaw County, Iowa contains 302 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.1% are rated “Good,” 30.1% “Fair,” and 27.8% “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

302

Public highway bridges in Chickasaw County

Good condition

42.1%

127 of 302 rated 7-9

Fair condition

30.1%

91 of 302 rated 5-6

Poor condition

27.8%

84 of 302 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#75 of 99

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

Condition distribution

Share of 302 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
42.1% (127)
Fair
30.1% (91)
Poor
27.8% (84)

Chickasaw County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,592 vehicle crossings a day

That is 11.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 27.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 186 crossings a day against 557 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 302 of 302 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

26.8% of Chickasaw County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

81 of the 302 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 42.1% 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 16.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

LOCAL RD over DRAINAGE DITCH, built 1953, carries 2,642 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 84-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 15,592 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Chickasaw County's bridges were built

302 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 62 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1986, 7 years newer than the Iowa average of 1979.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Chickasaw County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 27.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Chickasaw County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Adair County 306 13.4%
Marshall County 304 43.4%
Chickasaw County (this page) 302 27.8%
Cedar County 301 19.6%
Crawford County 301 9%
Story County 296 13.9%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (302 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1986 here).

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

All 302 Good 127 Fair 91 Poor 84

Good-condition bridges (127)

LOCAL

Good

Over: E FK WAPSIPINICON RIVER

094122201, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2003 Load: 40.3 t ADT: 30

V56 UNION

Good

Over: LITTLE TURKEY

096111002, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2008 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 717

US 18 WB & 63 NB

Good

Over: IMRR AND B-57

0.6 mi. E of W Jct. US 63, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2002 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 2,440

US 18 EB & 63 SB

Good

Over: IMRR & B-57

0.6 mi. E of W Jct. US 63, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2002 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 2,440

LOCAL

Good

Over: CREEK

094110701, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2006 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 154

FM

Good

Over: LITTLE WAPSIPINICON RVR

096132002, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2007 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 697

LOCAL

Good

Over: LITTLE TURKEY RIVER

097113304, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2007 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 34

FM

Good

Over: E FORK WAPSIPINICON

095120608, Chickasaw, IA

Built 1999 Load: 41.7 t ADT: 383

LOCAL

Good

Over: EAST WAPSIPINICON

095122201, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2002 Load: 41.7 t ADT: 104

KENWOOD AVE

Good

Over: EAST WAPSIPINICON RIVER

096132402, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2022 Load: 41.8 t ADT: 187

B22 110TH ST

Good

Over: SMALL STREAM

97123001, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2016 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 295

290TH STREET

Good

Over: US 218

1.2 mi. S of Jct. IA 346, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2002 Load: 42.4 t ADT: 51

IA 346

Good

Over: US 218

AT JCT. OF US 218, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2003 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 2,120

US 63 NB

Good

Over: US 18

At N Jct. US 18, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2000 Load: 42.8 t ADT: 1,415

US 63 SB

Good

Over: US 18

At N Jct. U.S. 18, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2000 Load: 42.8 t ADT: 1,400

LOCAL

Good

Over: WAPSIPINICON RIVER

094131001, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2013 Load: 43.1 t ADT: 35

225TH STREET

Good

Over: US 18 & 63

2.6 mi. E of W Jct. US 63, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2002 Load: 44.4 t ADT: 687

FM

Good

Over: LITTLE TURKEY RIVER

096111405, Chickasaw, IA

Built 1995 Load: 44.8 t ADT: 157

FM

Good

Over: LITTLE WAPSIPINICON

097142501, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2009 Load: 45.3 t ADT: 187

US 18

Good

Over: LITTLE WAP RIVER OVRFLW

3.0 mi. W of W Jct. US 63, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2001 Load: 45.3 t ADT: 3,030

JACKSON AVE

Good

Over: SMALL STREAM

094110700, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2005 Load: 48.0 t ADT: 291

IA 346

Good

Over: TWO MILE CREEK

4.8 mi. E of jct. US 218, Chickasaw, IA

Built 1984 Load: 48.1 t ADT: 2,150

B54 240TH

Good

Over: E FORK WAPSIPINICON

095123101, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2018 Load: 49.2 t ADT: 511

LOCAL

Good

Over: SPRING BRANCH

095133502, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2005 Load: 50.0 t ADT: 41

IA 24

Good

Over: PLUM CREEK

4.0 MI. E OF S.R. B57, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2000 Load: 52.5 t ADT: 4,290

US 18

Good

Over: WAPSIPINICON OVERFLOW

0.4 MI. E OF JCT. SR V14, Chickasaw, IA

Built 1978 Load: 57.5 t ADT: 2,280

IA 24

Good

Over: DRAINAGE DITCH

0.1 mi. W of E Jct SR V56, Chickasaw, IA

Built 2006 Load: 70.8 t ADT: 2,690

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.