County profile · official public datasets

Osceola County, IA

185 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.4% rated Good, 53% Fair, 8.6% Poor.

185
Public bridges: 38.4%
Good condition: 8.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Osceola County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 12%
lowest Poor share in state: 8.6%
Poor-condition share: 185
public highway bridges: 1965
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.

Osceola County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Osceola County ranks #12 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.6%). Osceola County, Iowa contains 185 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.4% are rated “Good,” 53% “Fair,” and 8.6% “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

185

Public highway bridges in Osceola County

Good condition

38.4%

71 of 185 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53%

98 of 185 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.6%

16 of 185 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#12 of 99

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

Condition distribution

Share of 185 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.4% (71)

Fair

53% (98)

Poor

8.6% (16)

Osceola County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,010 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 126 crossings a day against 754 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 185 of 185 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

62.7% of Osceola County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

116 of the 185 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 38.4% 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 39.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NORTHWEST BLVD over OTTER CREEK, built 1931, carries 797 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,010 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

6
1920s

1
1930s

27
1940s

26
1950s

31
1960s

15
1970s

27
1980s

9
1990s

9
2000s

27
2010s

6
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1965, 14 years older than the Iowa average of 1979.

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

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Osceola County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.6% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 12 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Osceola County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Adams County	186	10.2%	45.2%	44.6%	1967
Osceola County (this page)	185	38.4%	53%	8.6%	1965
Mills County	184	29.3%	51.6%	19%	1976
Appanoose County	183	41%	27.9%	31.1%	1981
Keokuk County	183	34.4%	45.9%	19.7%	1980
Ida County	182	42.9%	40.7%	16.5%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (185 bridges here).

Chambers County, AL · 185 bridges
Maui County, HI · 185 bridges
Lawrence County, IL · 185 bridges
Saline County, IL · 185 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1965 here).

Windsor County, VT · avg 1965 · 483 bridges
Bedford County, PA · avg 1965 · 417 bridges
Crawford County, PA · avg 1965 · 399 bridges
Harper County, KS · avg 1965 · 372 bridges

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

All 185 Good 71 Fair 98 Poor 16

All bridges (185)

Sort:

Osceola County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Osceola County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,010 vehicle crossings a day

62.7% of Osceola County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 39.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Osceola 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 (185)

LOCAL

LOCAL RD

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

FM

IA 9

LOCAL

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ORIOLE AVE

LOCAL

IA 9

IA 9 AT US 59

US 59

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MCKINLEY AVE

IA 60 SB

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LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

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LOCAL

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LOCAL

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NORTHWEST BLVD

IA 60

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2ND AVE

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LOCAL

WHITE AVE

LOCAL

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IA 9

LOCAL

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