County profile · official public datasets

Wapello County, IA

190 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.8% rated Good, 39.5% Fair, 14.7% Poor.

190
Public bridges: 45.8%
Good condition: 14.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Wapello County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 32%
lowest Poor share in state: 14.7%
Poor-condition share: 190
public highway bridges: 1987
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.

Wapello County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wapello County ranks #32 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 14.7%). Wapello County, Iowa contains 190 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.8% are rated “Good,” 39.5% “Fair,” and 14.7% “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

190

Public highway bridges in Wapello County

Good condition

45.8%

87 of 190 rated 7-9

Fair condition

39.5%

75 of 190 rated 5-6

Poor condition

14.7%

28 of 190 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#32 of 99

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

Condition distribution

Share of 190 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45.8% (87)

Fair

39.5% (75)

Poor

14.7% (28)

Wapello County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,085 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 14.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 146 crossings a day against 1,780 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 190 of 190 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

31.1% of Wapello County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

59 of the 190 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 45.8% 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 23.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FM over VILLAGE CREEK, built 1961, carries 950 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 28-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,085 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

2
1930s

8
1950s

4
1960s

38
1970s

14
1980s

26
1990s

19
2000s

45
2010s

22
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 45 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1987, 8 years newer than the Iowa average of 1979.

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

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Wapello County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 14.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 14 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wapello County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Page County	196	24%	43.9%	32.1%	1975
Lucas County	195	32.3%	34.4%	33.3%	1977
Webster County	190	45.8%	28.9%	25.3%	1983
Wapello County (this page)	190	45.8%	39.5%	14.7%	1987
Adams County	186	10.2%	45.2%	44.6%	1967
Osceola County	185	38.4%	53%	8.6%	1965

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (190 bridges here).

Clinton County, IL · 190 bridges
Bienville County, LA · 190 bridges
Lincoln County, MT · 190 bridges
Benton County, OR · 190 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1987 here).

St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
St. Louis County, MN · avg 1987 · 663 bridges
Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges

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

All 190 Good 87 Fair 75 Poor 28

All bridges (190)

Sort:

Wapello County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wapello County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,085 vehicle crossings a day

31.1% of Wapello County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 23.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wapello 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 (190)

JEFFERSON ST

LOCAL

LOCAL

FM

FM

LOCAL

FM

LOCAL

US 63

LOCAL

FM

FM

SO MOORE ST

US 63 SB

EB US 34

WEBSTER ST

ADELINE RD

SO. RANSOM ST

EB 34

FM

IA 149

US 63

LOCAL

LOCAL

US 34

IA 149 SB

POWER PLANT RD

US 34

FM

IA 149 NB

WILDWOOD DR

FM

FM

ALBIA RD

LOCAL

FM

FM

FM

FM

FM

EB US 34

WB US 34

US 63 SB

EDDYVILLE RD

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

FM

LOCAL

FM

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