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.

Total bridges

267

Public highway bridges in Kossuth County

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.

1900s

2
1930s

2
1940s

2
1950s

5
1960s

20
1970s

69
1980s

54
1990s

44
2000s

30
2010s

30
2020s

9

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Kossuth County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

All 267 Good 119 Fair 104 Poor 44

All bridges (267)

Sort:

LOC 350TH ST

Fair

Over: DRAINAGE DITCH #7

098273301, Kossuth, IA

Built 1990 Load: 47.7 t ADT: 15

LOC RIVER ROAD

Fair

Over: BLACK CAT CREEK

096292404, Kossuth, IA

Built 1992 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 90

LOC 200TH AVE

Fair

Over: BUFFALO CREEK

097270502, Kossuth, IA

Built 1988 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 46

IA 9

Fair

Over: DRAINAGE DITCH

0.7 mi. E of SR P66, Kossuth, IA

Kossuth County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Kossuth County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,434 vehicle crossings a day

21% of Kossuth County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 11.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Kossuth 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 (267)

LOC 350TH ST

LOC RIVER ROAD

LOC 200TH AVE

IA 9

US 169

LOC 230TH AVE

LOC 440TH ST

LOC 470TH ST

LOC 140TH ST

LOC 110TH ST

LOC 420TH ST

LOC 60TH AVE

FM 280TH ST

US 18

US 169

US 169

105TH ST

B46 190TH ST

B40 210TH ST

220TH AVE

260TH AVE

P30 90TH AVE

B 19 (300TH ST)

300TH ST

P30 90TH AVE

P30 90TH AVE

A16 500TH ST

P50 150TH AVE

160TH ST

B 63 130TH ST

LOC 240TH AVE

LOC IRVINGTON R

FM 210TH ST

LOC 270TH AVE

FM 240TH AVE

260TH ST

40TH AVE

B 14 330TH ST

LOC 130TH AVE

LOC 115TH AVE

B19 310TH ST

LOCAL 350TH ST

FM 220TH AVE

FM 80TH AVE

FM 500TH ST

LOC 30TH AVE

LOCAL RD

LOC 150TH ST

LOC 60TH AVE

LOC 165TH AVE

Related