County profile · official public datasets

Page County, IA

196 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 24% rated Good, 43.9% Fair, 32.1% Poor.

196
Public bridges: 24%
Good condition: 32.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

84th
of 99 on Poor share: 32.1%
Poor-condition share: 196
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Page County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Page County ranks #84 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 32.1%). Page County, Iowa contains 196 public highway bridges. Roughly 24% are rated “Good,” 43.9% “Fair,” and 32.1% “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

196

Public highway bridges in Page County

Good condition

24%

47 of 196 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.9%

86 of 196 rated 5-6

Poor condition

32.1%

63 of 196 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#84 of 99

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

Condition distribution

Share of 196 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

24% (47)

Fair

43.9% (86)

Poor

32.1% (63)

Page County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,414 vehicle crossings a day

That is 10.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 32.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 134 crossings a day against 494 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 196 of 196 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39.8% of Page County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

78 of the 196 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 24% 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 16.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SOUTHWEST RD over JOHNSONS RUN, built 1930, carries 1,414 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 63-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,414 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

9
1920s

2
1930s

4
1940s

6
1950s

27
1960s

21
1970s

27
1980s

41
1990s

31
2000s

15
2010s

8
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 41 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Iowa average (1979).

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

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Page County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 32.1% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Page 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 (this page)	196	24%	43.9%	32.1%	1975
Lucas County	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 Page 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 Page County, both outside Iowa so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (196 bridges here).

Wilkin County, MN · 196 bridges
Sampson County, NC · 196 bridges
Mifflin County, PA · 196 bridges
Cherokee County, TX · 196 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 196 Good 47 Fair 86 Poor 63

All bridges (196)

Sort:

Page County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Page County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,414 vehicle crossings a day

39.8% of Page County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 16.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Page 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 (196)

240TH STREET

K AVENUE

160TH STREET

G AVENUE

J-28/170TH ST

B AVENUE

C AVENUE

P AVENUE

D AVENUE

T AVENUE

290TH STREET

320TH STREET

280TH STREET

300TH STREET

230TH STREET

J-35 / 210 ST

300TH STREET

J AVENUE

280TH STREET

220TH STREET

320TH STREET

120TH STREET

WEST MAIN ST

J 56 290TH ST

J40 B AVE

J-20/140TH ST

J53 280TH STREET

M-41 / E AVE

F AVENUE

D AVENUE

105TH STREET

N AVENUE

J14 102ND ST

IVY AVENUE

320TH STREET

UPLAND AVENUE

260TH STREET

KIWI AVENUE

FIELD ENTRANCE

M AVENUE

110TH STREET

FIELD ENTRANCE

KIWI AVENUE

150TH STREET

220TH STREET

TEAK AVE

T AVENUE

M AVENUE

SOUTHWEST RD

FIELD ENTRANCE

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