County profile · official public datasets

Taylor County, IA

220 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 24.5% rated Good, 37.7% Fair, 37.7% Poor.

220
Public bridges: 24.5%
Good condition: 37.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Taylor 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.

94th
of 99 on Poor share: 37.7%
Poor-condition share: 220
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Taylor County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Taylor County ranks #94 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 37.7%). Taylor County, Iowa contains 220 public highway bridges. Roughly 24.5% are rated “Good,” 37.7% “Fair,” and 37.7% “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

220

Public highway bridges in Taylor County

Good condition

24.5%

54 of 220 rated 7-9

Fair condition

37.7%

83 of 220 rated 5-6

Poor condition

37.7%

83 of 220 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#94 of 99

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

Condition distribution

Share of 220 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

24.5% (54)

Fair

37.7% (83)

Poor

37.7% (83)

Taylor County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,497 vehicle crossings a day

That is 17.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 37.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 55 crossings a day against 167 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 219 of 220 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.5% of Taylor County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

111 of the 220 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 24.5% 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 17.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IA 2 over PLATTE RIVER, built 1976, carries 800 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 83-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,497 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

4
1910s

2
1920s

2
1930s

6
1940s

17
1950s

40
1960s

30
1970s

39
1980s

27
1990s

18
2000s

12
2010s

13
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1973, 6 years older than the Iowa average of 1979.

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

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Taylor County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 37.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 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 Taylor County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Madison County	225	16%	46.7%	37.3%	1968
Sac County	224	35.7%	30.8%	33.5%	1973
Taylor County (this page)	220	24.5%	37.7%	37.7%	1973
Harrison County	217	24.9%	56.2%	18.9%	1969
Marion County	217	38.7%	48.8%	12.4%	1984
Ringgold County	217	25.3%	31.3%	43.3%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (220 bridges here).

Bibb County, GA · 220 bridges
Decatur County, IN · 220 bridges
Dubois County, IN · 220 bridges
Winn County, LA · 220 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 220 Good 54 Fair 83 Poor 83

All bridges (220)

Sort:

Taylor County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Taylor County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,497 vehicle crossings a day

50.5% of Taylor County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 17.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Taylor 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 (220)

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