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.

Total bridges

156

Public highway bridges in Van Buren County

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.

pre-1900

1
1910s

1
1920s

5
1930s

4
1940s

2
1950s

28
1960s

31
1970s

27
1980s

15
1990s

10
2000s

17
2010s

13
2020s

2

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Van Buren County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

All 156 Good 37 Fair 70 Poor 49

Poor-condition bridges (49)

Sort:

Van Buren County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Van Buren County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,697 vehicle crossings a day

52.6% of Van Buren County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 36% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Van Buren 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 (49)

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