County profile · official public datasets

Jones County, IA

231 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.8% rated Good, 58.9% Fair, 4.3% Poor.

231
Public bridges: 36.8%
Good condition: 4.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 3%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.3%
Poor-condition share: 231
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Jones County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jones County ranks #3 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.3%). Jones County, Iowa contains 231 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.8% are rated “Good,” 58.9% “Fair,” and 4.3% “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

231

Public highway bridges in Jones County

Good condition

36.8%

85 of 231 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.9%

136 of 231 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.3%

10 of 231 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#3 of 99

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

Condition distribution

Share of 231 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

36.8% (85)

Fair

58.9% (136)

Poor

4.3% (10)

Jones County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,198 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 244 crossings a day against 1,338 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 227 of 231 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

33.3% of Jones County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

77 of the 231 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 36.8% 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 28% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

1ST ST SE over DIVISION CREEK, built 1900, carries 616 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,198 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

6
1920s

2
1930s

2
1940s

8
1950s

20
1960s

21
1970s

44
1980s

39
1990s

27
2000s

38
2010s

18
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 44 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Iowa average (1979).

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

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Jones County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.3% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jones County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Warren County	239	42.7%	36.8%	20.5%	1983
Jones County (this page)	231	36.8%	58.9%	4.3%	1981
Franklin County	228	44.7%	42.1%	13.2%	1982
Madison County	225	16%	46.7%	37.3%	1968
Mahaska County	225	28.4%	39.1%	32.4%	1972
Sac County	224	35.7%	30.8%	33.5%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (231 bridges here).

Saline County, AR · 231 bridges
Clay County, KS · 231 bridges
Panola County, MS · 231 bridges
Burke County, NC · 231 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 231 Good 85 Fair 136 Poor 10

Fair-condition bridges (136)

Sort:

Jones County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jones County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,198 vehicle crossings a day

33.3% of Jones County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 28% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jones 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

Fair-condition bridges (136)

WAPSIPINICON SP

JONES ST

200TH AVE.

130TH AVE.

DIVISION ST

ANAMOSA REFORM

202ND ST.

170TH ST.

222ND AVE.

WEBSTER ST

IA 38

IA 38

200TH AVE.

60TH AVE.

TIMBER RD

25TH AVE

100TH AVE.

228TH AVE.

140TH AVE.

35TH ST.

OLD CASS RD.

FREEMONT RD.

158TH ST.

JONES-DELAWARE

230TH ST.

15TH AVE.

180TH ST

IA 38

IA 38

CO RD X64

35TH ST.

BUNKER HILL RD.

140TH AVE.

148TH ST.

190TH AVE.

JUNGLETOWN RD.

45TH AVE.

170TH AVE.

120TH ST

130TH AVE.

190TH AVE

STONE BRIDGE RD

120TH AVE

42ND ST.

FREMONT RD.

RIVERVIEW RD.

95TH ST.

20TH ST.

BUNKER HILL RD

BUNKER HILL RD.

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