County profile · official public datasets

Lee County, IA

214 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.9% rated Good, 41.6% Fair, 13.6% Poor.

214
Public bridges: 44.9%
Good condition: 13.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lee County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 29%
lowest Poor share in state: 13.6%
Poor-condition share: 214
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.

Lee County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lee County ranks #29 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 13.6%). Lee County, Iowa contains 214 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.9% are rated “Good,” 41.6% “Fair,” and 13.6% “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

214

Public highway bridges in Lee County

Good condition

44.9%

96 of 214 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41.6%

89 of 214 rated 5-6

Poor condition

13.6%

29 of 214 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#29 of 99

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

Condition distribution

Share of 214 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.9% (96)

Fair

41.6% (89)

Poor

13.6% (29)

Lee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 22,542 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 13.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 777 crossings a day against 1,194 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 212 of 214 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

36.4% of Lee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

78 of the 214 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 44.9% 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 48.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

AVE L over DRY CREEK, built 1915, carries 10,953 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 29-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 22,542 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

2
1920s

2
1930s

8
1940s

11
1950s

22
1960s

16
1970s

38
1980s

21
1990s

33
2000s

32
2010s

20
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 38 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.8% 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 Lee County compares with Iowa's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Lee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 13.6% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lee County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Harrison County	217	24.9%	56.2%	18.9%	1969
Marion County	217	38.7%	48.8%	12.4%	1984
Ringgold County	217	25.3%	31.3%	43.3%	1971
Lee County (this page)	214	44.9%	41.6%	13.6%	1981
Floyd County	213	49.8%	35.7%	14.6%	1984
Howard County	210	41.9%	35.2%	22.9%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (214 bridges here).

Lee County, AL · 214 bridges
White County, IL · 214 bridges
White County, IN · 214 bridges
Wayne County, MS · 214 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 214 Good 96 Fair 89 Poor 29

Good-condition bridges (96)

Sort:

Lee County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 22,542 vehicle crossings a day

36.4% of Lee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 48.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lee 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

Good-condition bridges (96)

FM

LOCAL

SHIMEK ST FOREST

SHIMEK ST FOREST

LOCAL

US 218 SB

IA 16

FM

FM

CO RD X32

IA 16

SB US 61

CO RD X 38

US 218 NB

AVE I

AVE D

27TH ST

X38 PERKINS RD

IA 2

IA 2

ABEL ROAD

US 61 NB

SB US 61

COUNTY ROAD

WIRTZ LANE

FM

FM

LOCAL

FM

FM

240TH AVE

FM

LOCAL SECONDARY

FM

LOCAL

FM

FM

FM

LOCAL ROAD

LOCAL

110TH ST

LOCAL

FM

FM

FM

172ND AVE

FM

US 61 SB

FM

IA 27 SB

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