Total bridges
267
Public highway bridges in Kossuth County
County profile · official public datasets
Kossuth County, IA
267 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.6% rated Good, 39% Fair, 16.5% Poor.
- 267
- Public bridges
- 44.6%
- Good condition
- 16.5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Kossuth County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 38%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 16.5%
- Poor-condition share
- 267
- public highway bridges
- 1987
- 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.
Kossuth County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Kossuth County ranks #38 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 16.5%). Kossuth County, Iowa contains 267 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.6% are rated “Good,” 39% “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.
Good condition
44.6%
119 of 267 rated 7-9
Fair condition
39%
104 of 267 rated 5-6
Poor condition
16.5%
44 of 267 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#38 of 99
Among Iowa counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 267 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 44.6% (119)
Fair 39% (104)
Poor 16.5% (44)
Kossuth County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,434 vehicle crossings a day
That is 6.4% 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 124 crossings a day against 423 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 267 of 267 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
21% of Kossuth County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
56 of the 267 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 44.6% 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 11.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
FM 90TH AVE over FOUR MILE CREEK, built 1965, carries 638 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 44-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 5,434 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Kossuth County's bridges were built
267 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 2
1900–1909
2 bridges
- 1930s 2
1930–1939
2 bridges
- 1940s 2
1940–1949
2 bridges
- 1950s 5
1950–1959
5 bridges
- 1960s 20
1960–1969
20 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
69 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
54 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
44 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
30 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
30 bridges
- 2020s 9
2020–2029
9 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 69 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1987, 8 years newer than the Iowa average of 1979.
How Kossuth County compares with Iowa's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Iowa counties nearest Kossuth County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 16.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 9 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 98 Iowa counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyon County | 276 | 38.8% | 38.4% | 22.8% | 1974 |
| Kossuth County (this page) | 267 | 44.6% | 39% | 16.5% | 1987 |
| Bremer County | 266 | 51.9% | 36.1% | 12% | 1990 |
| Cerro Gordo County | 266 | 44% | 51.1% | 4.9% | 1975 |
| O'Brien County | 264 | 51.9% | 43.2% | 4.9% | 1976 |
| Guthrie County | 263 | 24% | 39.2% | 36.9% | 1976 |
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 Kossuth 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 Kossuth County, both outside Iowa so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside IA (267 bridges here).
- Pittsylvania County, VA · 267 bridges
- Polk County, MN · 268 bridges
- Jackson County, MS · 268 bridges
- Warren County, NJ · 268 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1987 here).
- St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
- Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
- St. Louis County, MN · avg 1987 · 663 bridges
- Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (119)
LOC 30TH AVE
GoodOver: LOTTS CREEK
096300402, Kossuth, IA
Built 2007 Load: 45.7 t ADT: 21
B55 170TH ST
GoodOver: E FORK DES MOINES RIVER
095283101, Kossuth, IA
Built 2022 Load: 46.0 t ADT: 350
FM 280TH ST
GoodOver: CALAMUS CREEK
096290401, Kossuth, IA
Built 1994 Load: 47.7 t ADT: 26
LOC 210TH AVE
GoodOver: MIDDLE BRANCH BLUE EARTH
099270902, Kossuth, IA
Built 1993 Load: 47.7 t ADT: 15
FM 240TH AVE
GoodOver: NORTH BUFFALO CREEK
098272402, Kossuth, IA
Built 2007 Load: 48.2 t ADT: 330
FM 360TH ST
GoodOver: MUD CREEK
098292505, Kossuth, IA
Built 1999 Load: 49.8 t ADT: 450
US 169
GoodOver: DRAINAGE DITCH
0.2 mi. N of SR C10, Kossuth, IA
Built 1985 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 2,880
IA 15
GoodOver: BLACK CAT CREEK
2.9 mi. S of SR A42, Kossuth, IA
Built 2014 Load: 51.2 t ADT: 680
US 169
GoodOver: E FORK DES MOINES RIVER
0.1 mi. S of Jct. US 18, Kossuth, IA
Built 2008 Load: 51.4 t ADT: 7,500
LOC 60TH AVE
GoodOver: BLACK CAT CREEK
097303602, Kossuth, IA
Built 1998 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 11
LOC 80TH AVE
GoodOver: E FORK DES MOINES RIVER
098292002, Kossuth, IA
Built 1988 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 60
LOC 60TH AVE
GoodOver: E FORK DES MOINES RIVER
098301302, Kossuth, IA
Built 1989 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 50
LOC 167TH AVE
GoodOver: BUFFALO CREEK
097281006, Kossuth, IA
Built 2001 Load: 52.7 t ADT: 30
FM 190TH AVE
GoodOver: PRAIRIE CREEK
094271902, Kossuth, IA
Built 2002 Load: 52.9 t ADT: 489
FM 40TH AVE
GoodOver: LOTTS CREEK
094301502, Kossuth, IA
Built 2004 Load: 52.9 t ADT: 230
FM 130TH ST
GoodOver: LOTTS CREEK
094302201, Kossuth, IA
Built 2001 Load: 52.9 t ADT: 569
FM 150TH AVE
GoodOver: PLUM CREEK
096281602, Kossuth, IA
Built 1997 Load: 52.9 t ADT: 369
FM 360TH ST
GoodOver: NORTH BUFFALO CREEK
098272601, Kossuth, IA
Built 1994 Load: 52.9 t ADT: 450
FM 40TH AVE
GoodOver: E FORK DES MOINES RIVER
098301001, Kossuth, IA
Built 2006 Load: 52.9 t ADT: 190
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.