Total bridges
182
Public highway bridges in Ida County
County profile · official public datasets
182 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.9% rated Good, 40.7% Fair, 16.5% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Ida County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
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.
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ida County ranks #39 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 16.5%). Ida County, Iowa contains 182 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.9% are rated “Good,” 40.7% “Fair,” and 16.5% “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
182
Public highway bridges in Ida County
Good condition
42.9%
78 of 182 rated 7-9
Fair condition
40.7%
74 of 182 rated 5-6
Poor condition
16.5%
30 of 182 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#39 of 99
Among Iowa counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 182 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 12.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 16.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 365 crossings a day against 527 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 182 of 182 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
70 of the 182 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.
LOCAL over ODEBOLT CREEK, built 1967, carries 2,884 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 30-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 10,957 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
182 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1900–1909
9 bridges
1930–1939
4 bridges
1940–1949
3 bridges
1950–1959
8 bridges
1960–1969
29 bridges
1970–1979
21 bridges
1980–1989
20 bridges
1990–1999
32 bridges
2000–2009
31 bridges
2010–2019
18 bridges
2020–2029
7 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 32 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Iowa average (1979).
The 5 Iowa counties nearest Ida County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 16.5% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 7 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 98 Iowa counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Osceola County | 185 | 38.4% | 53% | 8.6% | 1965 |
| Mills County | 184 | 29.3% | 51.6% | 19% | 1976 |
| Appanoose County | 183 | 41% | 27.9% | 31.1% | 1981 |
| Keokuk County | 183 | 34.4% | 45.9% | 19.7% | 1980 |
| Wright County | 182 | 35.2% | 35.7% | 29.1% | 1979 |
| Ida County (this page) | 182 | 42.9% | 40.7% | 16.5% | 1983 |
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 Ida County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Ida County, both outside Iowa so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside IA (182 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1983 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: BRANCH BACON CREEK
088410801, Ida, IA
Over: CREEK
088412301, Ida, IA
Over: MOREHEAD CREEK
2.6 mi. W of W jct SR L51, Ida, IA
Over: SILVER CREEK
2.1 mi. N of SR D15, Ida, IA
Over: STREAM
5.3 mi. N of jct. US 20, Ida, IA
Over: CREEK
088400802, Ida, IA
Over: EAST FORK BATTLE CREEK
088403002, Ida, IA
Over: ASHTON CREEK
1.0 mi. N of SR D15, Ida, IA
Over: STREAM
0.1 mi W of W jct US 59, Ida, IA
Over: BR SILVER CREEK
088391901, Ida, IA
Over: TRIB MAPLE RIVER
088401101, Ida, IA
Over: CREEK
089402901, Ida, IA
Over: SMALL STREAM
089410102, Ida, IA
Over: SMALL STREAM
089411304, Ida, IA
Over: SOLDIER RIVER
086392902, Ida, IA
Over: ALDRICH CREEK
087412001, Ida, IA
Over: CREEK
088400202, Ida, IA
Over: ASHTON CREEK
089410202, Ida, IA
Over: CREEK
086392902, Ida, IA
Over: BATTLE CREEK
087410102, Ida, IA
Over: SMALL STREAM
089412401, Ida, IA
Over: MAPLE RIVER
1 mi. S of N jct. IA 175, Ida, IA
Over: SMALL
086410603, Ida, IA
Over: ALDRICH CREEK
087412804, Ida, IA
Over: MAPLE RIVER
089391603, Ida, IA
Over: W FORK BATTLE CREEK
088412201, Ida, IA
Over: WEST FOR BATTLE CREEK
088412602, Ida, IA
Over: MAPLE RIVER
088402501, Ida, IA
Over: ASHTON CREEK
089411101, Ida, IA
Over: ALDRICH CREEK
087411701, Ida, IA
Over: BR. HOSKINS CREEK
087392803, Ida, IA
Over: STREAM
2.2 mi. W of W jct US 59, Ida, IA
Over: STREAM
3.2 mi E of E Jct US 59, Ida, IA
Over: STREAM
2.1 mi. E of E jct US 59, Ida, IA
Over: CREEK
089392902, Ida, IA
Over: BATTLE CREEK
088413501, Ida, IA
Over: HALFWAY CREEK
089392304, Ida, IA
Over: STREAM
1.6 mi. W of W Jct US 59, Ida, IA
Over: BADGER CREEK
087402305, Ida, IA
Over: BADGER CREEK
087402301, Ida, IA
Over: ODEBOLT CREEK
087401400, Ida, IA
Over: MAPLE RIVER
4.1 MI. E OF E US 59, Ida, IA
Over: SOLDIER RIVER
1.2 mi N of jct CO RD D54, Ida, IA
Over: TRIBUTARY OF ODEBOLT CR
0.5 mi. E of Jct. SR M31, Ida, IA
Over: SOLDIER RIVER
086402302, Ida, IA
Over: ELK CREEK
087390201, Ida, IA
Over: BITTER CREEK
089411805, Ida, IA
Over: FRITZ CREEK
3.4 mi E of jct US 59, Ida, IA
Over: MAPLE RIVER
4.1 MI. E. OF E. JCT. 59, Ida, IA
Over: SOLDIER RIVER
086391501, Ida, IA
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
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.