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.

1900s

1
1920s

3
1930s

2
1940s

2
1950s

23
1960s

29
1970s

48
1980s

54
1990s

39
2000s

62
2010s

27
2020s

12

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.

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	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 (this page)	302	42.1%	30.1%	27.8%	1986
Cedar County	301	42.9%	37.5%	19.6%	1983
Crawford County	301	42.5%	48.5%	9%	1982
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 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).

Ford County, IL · 302 bridges
Madison County, NE · 302 bridges
Pottawatomie County, KS · 303 bridges
Callaway County, MO · 303 bridges

Similar average build year

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

El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
Canadian County, OK · avg 1986 · 493 bridges

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

All bridges (302)

Sort:

Chickasaw County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

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

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

One structure carries 16.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Chickasaw 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 (302)

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