County profile · official public datasets

Lucas County, IA

195 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 32.3% rated Good, 34.4% Fair, 33.3% Poor.

195
Public bridges: 32.3%
Good condition: 33.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

88th
of 99 on Poor share: 33.3%
Poor-condition share: 195
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Lucas County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lucas County ranks #88 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 33.3%). Lucas County, Iowa contains 195 public highway bridges. Roughly 32.3% are rated “Good,” 34.4% “Fair,” and 33.3% “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

195

Public highway bridges in Lucas County

Good condition

32.3%

63 of 195 rated 7-9

Fair condition

34.4%

67 of 195 rated 5-6

Poor condition

33.3%

65 of 195 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#88 of 99

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

Condition distribution

Share of 195 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

32.3% (63)

Fair

34.4% (67)

Poor

33.3% (65)

Lucas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,827 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 33% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 75 crossings a day against 355 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 194 of 195 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.7% of Lucas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

95 of the 195 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 32.3% 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 22.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

S23 200TH AVE over BNSF RR, built 1937, carries 1,090 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 65-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,827 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

5
1910s

1
1920s

2
1930s

11
1940s

10
1950s

34
1960s

17
1970s

29
1980s

11
1990s

15
2000s

36
2010s

21
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 36 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Iowa average (1979).

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

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Lucas County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 33.3% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lucas County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dallas County	199	44.7%	46.2%	9%	1978
Allamakee County	197	31.5%	59.4%	9.1%	1975
Calhoun County	197	24.4%	50.3%	25.4%	1971
Decatur County	197	18.3%	41.1%	40.6%	1972
Page County	196	24%	43.9%	32.1%	1975
Lucas County (this page)	195	32.3%	34.4%	33.3%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (195 bridges here).

Otero County, CO · 195 bridges
LaSalle County, LA · 195 bridges
Sabine County, LA · 195 bridges
Wilson County, NC · 195 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1977 here).

San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
Shelby County, TN · avg 1977 · 1,077 bridges

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

All 195 Good 63 Fair 67 Poor 65

Poor-condition bridges (65)

Sort:

Lucas County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lucas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,827 vehicle crossings a day

48.7% of Lucas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 22.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lucas 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

Poor-condition bridges (65)

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