County profile · official public datasets

Pocahontas County, IA

201 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 19.4% rated Good, 55.2% Fair, 25.4% Poor.

201
Public bridges: 19.4%
Good condition: 25.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Pocahontas County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

71st
of 99 on Poor share: 25.4%
Poor-condition share: 201
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Pocahontas County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pocahontas County ranks #71 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 25.4%). Pocahontas County, Iowa contains 201 public highway bridges. Roughly 19.4% are rated “Good,” 55.2% “Fair,” and 25.4% “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

201

Public highway bridges in Pocahontas County

Good condition

19.4%

39 of 201 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.2%

111 of 201 rated 5-6

Poor condition

25.4%

51 of 201 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#71 of 99

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

Condition distribution

Share of 201 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

19.4% (39)

Fair

55.2% (111)

Poor

25.4% (51)

Pocahontas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,763 vehicle crossings a day

That is 9.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 25.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 113 crossings a day against 448 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 201 of 201 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

44.8% of Pocahontas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

90 of the 201 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 19.4% 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 12.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FM over DD # 77 NO LIZARD CK, built 1973, carries 698 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 51-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,763 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

3
1910s

6
1920s

2
1930s

1
1940s

3
1950s

19
1960s

29
1970s

77
1980s

32
1990s

5
2000s

9
2010s

12
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 77 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 38.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1974, 5 years older than the Iowa average of 1979.

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

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Pocahontas County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 25.4% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Pocahontas County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Audubon County	206	33.5%	48.1%	18.4%	1968
Pocahontas County (this page)	201	19.4%	55.2%	25.4%	1974
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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (201 bridges here).

Williamson County, IL · 201 bridges
Hancock County, IN · 201 bridges
McCracken County, KY · 201 bridges
De Soto County, LA · 201 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 201 Good 39 Fair 111 Poor 51

Poor-condition bridges (51)

Sort:

Pocahontas County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pocahontas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,763 vehicle crossings a day

44.8% of Pocahontas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 12.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pocahontas 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 (51)

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