County profile · official public datasets

Muscatine County, IA

144 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.7% rated Good, 43.8% Fair, 21.5% Poor.

144
Public bridges: 34.7%
Good condition: 21.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

61st
of 99 on Poor share: 21.5%
Poor-condition share: 144
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Muscatine County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Muscatine County ranks #61 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 21.5%). Muscatine County, Iowa contains 144 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.7% are rated “Good,” 43.8% “Fair,” and 21.5% “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

144

Public highway bridges in Muscatine County

Good condition

34.7%

50 of 144 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.8%

63 of 144 rated 5-6

Poor condition

21.5%

31 of 144 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#61 of 99

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

Condition distribution

Share of 144 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.7% (50)

Fair

43.8% (63)

Poor

21.5% (31)

Muscatine County's Poor-condition bridges carry 22,216 vehicle crossings a day

That is 10.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 21.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 717 crossings a day against 1,582 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 144 of 144 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

43.8% of Muscatine County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

63 of the 144 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 34.7% 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 13.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FM over WAPSI CREEK, built 1971, carries 3,080 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 31-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 22,216 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

6
1930s

6
1940s

8
1950s

12
1960s

14
1970s

25
1980s

24
1990s

8
2000s

21
2010s

13
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 25 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Iowa average (1979).

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

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Muscatine County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 21.5% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Muscatine County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Clay County	151	35.8%	54.3%	9.9%	1982
Louisa County	151	33.1%	50.3%	16.6%	1980
Muscatine County (this page)	144	34.7%	43.8%	21.5%	1979
Hancock County	138	39.9%	39.9%	20.3%	1981
Boone County	135	27.4%	43%	29.6%	1955
Palo Alto County	135	23%	58.5%	18.5%	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 Muscatine 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 Muscatine County, both outside Iowa so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (144 bridges here).

Anderson County, KS · 144 bridges
Webster County, KY · 144 bridges
Muskegon County, MI · 144 bridges
Tishomingo County, MS · 144 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 144 Good 50 Fair 63 Poor 31

All bridges (144)

Sort:

Muscatine County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Muscatine County's Poor-condition bridges carry 22,216 vehicle crossings a day

43.8% of Muscatine County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 13.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Muscatine 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 (144)

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

FM

LOCAL

LOCAL

IA 22

LOCAL

LOCAL

IA 22

LOCAL

FM

FM

FM

LOCAL

FM

FM

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

FM

FM

BIDWELL RD

IA 38

FM

US 6

ISETT AVE

US 6 & IA 38

LOCAL

IA 92

FM

FM

WASHNGTON ST.

LAKE PARK BLVD

IA 22

FM

FM

US 6 & IA 38

IA 38

FM

IA 22

LOCAL

FM

IA 22 & 70

X 54

E 2ND ST

IA 22

LOCAL

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