Total bridges
156
Public highway bridges in Van Buren County
County profile · official public datasets
Van Buren County, IA
156 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 23.7% rated Good, 44.9% Fair, 31.4% Poor.
- 156
- Public bridges
- 23.7%
- Good condition
- 31.4%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Van Buren County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 82nd
- of 99 on Poor share
- 31.4%
- Poor-condition share
- 156
- 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.
Van Buren County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Van Buren County ranks #82 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 31.4%). Van Buren County, Iowa contains 156 public highway bridges. Roughly 23.7% are rated “Good,” 44.9% “Fair,” and 31.4% “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.
Good condition
23.7%
37 of 156 rated 7-9
Fair condition
44.9%
70 of 156 rated 5-6
Poor condition
31.4%
49 of 156 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#82 of 99
Among Iowa counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 156 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 23.7% (37)
Fair 44.9% (70)
Poor 31.4% (49)
Van Buren County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,697 vehicle crossings a day
That is 7.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 31.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 55 crossings a day against 330 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 154 of 156 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
52.6% of Van Buren County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
82 of the 156 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 23.7% 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 36% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
W40 over DES MOINES RIVER, built 1960, carries 970 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 49-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 2,697 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Van Buren County's bridges were built
156 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 1
Built before 1900
1 bridges
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 5
1920–1929
5 bridges
- 1930s 4
1930–1939
4 bridges
- 1940s 2
1940–1949
2 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
28 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
31 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
27 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
15 bridges
- 1990s 10
1990–1999
10 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
17 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
13 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Iowa average (1979).
How Van Buren County compares with Iowa's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Iowa counties nearest Van Buren County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 31.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 98 Iowa counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monona County | 162 | 36.4% | 38.3% | 25.3% | 1973 |
| Jefferson County | 157 | 43.9% | 37.6% | 18.5% | 1983 |
| Buena Vista County | 156 | 35.9% | 32.7% | 31.4% | 1979 |
| Van Buren County (this page) | 156 | 23.7% | 44.9% | 31.4% | 1975 |
| Clay County | 151 | 35.8% | 54.3% | 9.9% | 1982 |
| Louisa County | 151 | 33.1% | 50.3% | 16.6% | 1980 |
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 Van Buren 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 Van Buren County, both outside Iowa so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside IA (156 bridges here).
- Holmes County, FL · 156 bridges
- Evangeline County, LA · 156 bridges
- Phelps County, MO · 156 bridges
- Lowndes County, AL · 157 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.
Fair-condition bridges (70)
FM
FairOver: CREEK
068080201, Van Buren, IA
Built 1936 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 530
LOCAL
FairOver: CREEK
068091602, Van Buren, IA
Built 1970 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 47
FM
FairOver: CREEK
069102722, Van Buren, IA
Built 1968 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 770
LAC-KEO ST PARK
FairOver: STREAM
2.6 mi. S of Iowa 1, Van Buren, IA
Built 1920 Load: 32.7 t
V56
FairOver: SO LITTLE FOX CREEK
068113210, Van Buren, IA
Built 1985 Load: 34.3 t ADT: 820
LOCAL
FairOver: CREEK
069100904, Van Buren, IA
Built 1980 Load: 34.7 t ADT: 62
LOCAL
FairOver: TRIB CONQUEST CREEK
069111403, Van Buren, IA
Built 2004 Load: 35.0 t ADT: 5
FM
FairOver: LEWIS CREEK
067081204, Van Buren, IA
Built 1985 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 200
LOCAL
FairOver: CHEQUEST CREEK
069102710, Van Buren, IA
Built 2005 Load: 37.6 t ADT: 140
IA 2
FairOver: BIG INDIAN CREEK
0.7 MI. W OF JCT. of IA 1, Van Buren, IA
Built 1969 Load: 37.7 t ADT: 1,130
FM
FairOver: DES MOINES RIVER
070111705, Van Buren, IA
Built 1977 Load: 37.9 t ADT: 240
FM
FairOver: INDIAN CREEK
068093004, Van Buren, IA
Built 1994 Load: 38.6 t ADT: 260
FM
FairOver: STREAM
069111406, Van Buren, IA
Built 1989 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 720
LOCAL
FairOver: CREEK
068090404, Van Buren, IA
Built 1988 Load: 42.9 t ADT: 73
LOCAL
FairOver: STREAM
068090506, Van Buren, IA
Built 1987 Load: 42.9 t ADT: 11
GARDEN RD
FairOver: TRIB CHEQUEST CREEK
069102004, Van Buren, IA
Built 2004 Load: 50.3 t ADT: 11
IA 2
FairOver: WHITE OAK CREEK
4.8 MI. E OF JCT. IA 1, Van Buren, IA
Built 1925 Load: 52.5 t ADT: 1,320
IA 16
FairOver: LITTLE LICK CREEK
1.7 mi. W of W jct. IA 1, Van Buren, IA
Built 1989 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 940
LOCAL
FairOver: LITTLE CEDAR CREEK
070082302, Van Buren, IA
Built 2003 Load: 71.0 t ADT: 16
FM
FairOver: CREEK
068090103, Van Buren, IA
Built 1985 Load: 78.1 t ADT: 430
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.