County profile · official public datasets

Ida County, IA

182 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.9% rated Good, 40.7% Fair, 16.5% Poor.

182
Public bridges
42.9%
Good condition
16.5%
Poor condition

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.

Top 39%
lowest Poor share in state
16.5%
Poor-condition share
182
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.

Ida County Bridge Snapshot

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

Condition distribution

Share of 182 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
42.9% (78)
Fair
40.7% (74)
Poor
16.5% (30)

Ida County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,957 vehicle crossings a day

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.

38.5% of Ida County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

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.

One structure carries 26.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

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.

When Ida County's bridges were built

182 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

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).

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

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

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ida County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Osceola County 185 8.6%
Mills County 184 19%
Appanoose County 183 31.1%
Keokuk County 183 19.7%
Wright County 182 29.1%
Ida County (this page) 182 16.5%

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.

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Two NBI-derived peer sets for Ida County, both outside Iowa so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (182 bridges here).

Similar average build year

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.

All 182 Good 78 Fair 74 Poor 30

All bridges (182)

FM

Good

Over: ELK CREEK

088393602, Ida, IA

Built 2003 Load: 48.2 t ADT: 369

LOCAL

Good

Over: BATTLE CREEK

087412301, Ida, IA

Built 1994 Load: 52.7 t ADT: 30

LOCAL

Poor

Over: HOSKINS CREEK

087392602, Ida, IA

Built 1955 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 26

LOCAL

Poor

Over: CREEK

087393301, Ida, IA

Built 1964 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 5

WOODBURY AVE

Poor

Over: CREEK

088411902, Ida, IA

Built 1900 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 50

FM

Poor

Over: BITTER CREEK

089411504, Ida, IA

Built 1957 Load: 7.3 t ADT: 15

LOCAL

Poor

Over: CREEK

089413102, Ida, IA

Built 1900 Load: 10.1 t ADT: 26

LOCAL

Poor

Over: BITTER CREEK

089411406, Ida, IA

Built 1960 Load: 12.6 t ADT: 30

FM

Poor

Over: BACON CREEK

088410504, Ida, IA

Built 1900 Load: 13.2 t ADT: 199

FM

Poor

Over: CREEK

089390801, Ida, IA

Built 1952 Load: 15.1 t ADT: 60

FM

Poor

Over: CREEK

086402401, Ida, IA

Built 1900 Load: 15.7 t ADT: 26

LOCAL

Poor

Over: EAST FORK BATTLE CREEK

088402901, Ida, IA

Built 1900 Load: 17.0 t ADT: 35

FM

Poor

Over: SMALL

089391302, Ida, IA

Built 1900 Load: 17.0 t ADT: 379

FM

Poor

Over: ODEBOLT CREEK

087392204, Ida, IA

Built 1949 Load: 17.1 t ADT: 60

LOCAL

Poor

Over: ODEBOLT CREEK

087392004, Ida, IA

Built 1957 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 50

LOCAL

Poor

Over: STREAM

087410202, Ida, IA

Built 1900 Load: 18.0 t ADT: 21

LOCAL

Poor

Over: ODEBOLT CREEK

087402403, Ida, IA

Built 1967 Load: 19.0 t ADT: 2,884

FM

Poor

Over: UNNAMED STREAM

089390102, Ida, IA

Built 1961 Load: 22.1 t ADT: 379

FM

Poor

Over: UNNAMED CREEK

089392310, Ida, IA

Built 1961 Load: 22.1 t ADT: 379

FM

Poor

Over: UNNAMED CREEK

0893925, Ida, IA

Built 1961 Load: 22.1 t ADT: 598

MAIN ST

Poor

Over: BADGER CREEK

087402306, Ida, IA

Built 1968 Load: 22.2 t ADT: 1,043

WASHINGTON STREET

Poor

Over: ODEBOLT CREEK

087401408, Ida, IA

Built 1972 Load: 22.6 t ADT: 1,635

FM

Poor

Over: ODEBOLT CREEK

087392424, Ida, IA

Built 1964 Load: 23.0 t ADT: 589

FM

Poor

Over: CREEK

086413601, Ida, IA

Built 1971 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 350

FM

Poor

Over: UNNAMED CREEK

088391302, Ida, IA

Built 1900 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 369

LOCAL

Poor

Over: SILVER CREEK

088391602, Ida, IA

Built 1983 Load: 24.7 t ADT: 5

LOCAL

Poor

Over: WEST FORK BATTLE CREEK

088412603, Ida, IA

Built 1963 Load: 25.6 t ADT: 5

FM

Poor

Over: SOLDIER RIVER

086403101, Ida, IA

Built 1971 Load: 28.6 t ADT: 350

FM

Poor

Over: ASHTON CREEK

089411202, Ida, IA

Built 1974 Load: 30.0 t ADT: 290

FM

Poor

Over: SILVER CREEK

088391702, Ida, IA

Built 1969 Load: 30.6 t ADT: 589

FM

Poor

Over: BATTLE CREEK

088412504, Ida, IA

Built 1969 Load: 30.6 t ADT: 499

LOCAL ROAD

Poor

Over: SOLDIER RIVER

086392802, Ida, IA

Built 1900 Load: 31.1 t ADT: 11

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.